Survivor
by imperialfan
Summary: This is the story of an Imperial officer, Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik, who survives the Battle of Endor and his exploits after Endor.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I am not George Lucas, and I do not own Star Wars or any of the other authors characters etc mentioned in this story. I am making no money off this, so please do not sue me_

_Authors Note: the backdrop for this story is the Star Wars Expanded Universe and the various stories etc, from which I will use as background (and some foreground) material for this story_

"_Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." _Winston Churchill

**1. The Battle of Endor, End Game**

**Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik**

With the destruction of the shield generator bunker on Endor, the second Death Star is now vulnerable to attack, in addition to the death of the Emperor. Grand Admiral Teshik knows it is time to leave, by the time Teshik had managed to reach his shuttle (barring a small interruption that would change his life). When Teshik arrives at his shuttle, he notices that it is still being guarded by his troops, who are fending off any attempt to steal Teshik shuttle.

Teshik thinks to himself, these troops are very loyal to me they will be rewarded after this is over, then he boards his shuttle with one other person, a construction worker, this causes some strange looks by his troops, but they say nothing.

At this time, the Falcon is almost at the Death Stars reactor.

Once onboard his shuttle, Teshik orders the pilot to head towards his command ship the Imperial I class star destroyer Eleemosynary, instructing the pilot to boost power to the shields and the engines. Teshik shuttle screams away from the second Death Star a maximum speed, trying to get away from the possible blast radius of the Death Star.

Shortly after Teshik shuttle gets clear of the stricken second Death Star, the Death Star explodes, causing a short pause in the battle on both sides, as they all watch the explosion of the second Death Star. This pause is useful for Teshik as it allows him time to get onboard his command ship the Eleemosynary.

Once on the bridge of the Eleemosynary, Teshik can see that the Battle of Endor is swinging the Rebels way however, Teshik can also see that the remains of Lord Vader's fleet could still pull a victory from this disaster, even with the fleet in its current condition. All that Teshik has to do is rally the fleet under his command this will prove to be a lot harder than Teshik originally thought, even so, Teshik sets about his task trying to coordinate the fleet.

With the destruction of the second Death Star, along with the Executor, communication and coordination between the various warships of the Imperial fleet starts to breakdown, the Imperial II class star destroyer Chimaera as backup command ship for Vader's fleet tries to restore some level of communication and coordination, with limited success. The command authority of Vader's former fleet is invested in the star destroyer Chimaera not who is commanding the ship, so all remaining warships of Vader's fleet will act on orders from the Chimaera.

The Rebel Fleet during this time of confusion within the Imperial Fleet increases its attacks on the Imperial warships creating even more confusion, making the situation much worse for the Imperial fleet. It is during this time that Grand Admiral Teshik tries to assume control of the fleet, after both Grand Admirals Takel and Makati have fled the Endor system, leaving Grand Admiral Teshik as the most senior Imperial officer in the system.

As the Rebel Fleet begins making significant inroads against the disorganised Imperial fleet, Grand Admiral Teshik had managed to escape the badly damaged battle station before its destruction to his flagship, the Imperial I class star destroyer Eleemosynary and from there continues the fight against the Rebels.

For the next hour or so Grand Admiral Teshik unsuccessfully try's his best to rally the fleet, however as the Eleemosynary was not classed as backup flagship, most of the star destroyer captains are not flowing Grand Admiral Teshik, even though these captains know that Teshik is a Grand Admiral. These captains have strict orders to follow instruction from the Chimaera and not the Eleemosynary and they are following these orders, even though with the death of both the Emperor and Lord Vader these orders do not stand anymore, they are still following them!

With his original plans now at an end, Teshik noted that the Chimaera was trying to regroup the fleet Teshik thought that the Captain of Chimaera would withdraw, Teshik also could see that the Chimaera has suffered battle damage along with a large proportion of the Imperial fleet. The current remains of the Imperial Fleet are now in no fit condition to try to win this battle, his original plan to rally the fleet against the Rebels was pointless, the best option is to withdraw and regroup the remains of Lord Vader's fleet, to fight another day.

The Chimaera needs time to regroup and withdraw the fleet.

Grand Admiral Teshik has made his decision on what to do next and says, "Communications get me the Chimaera, priority one."

From the communications pit there is a frenzy of activity, then a communications technician says, "Sir, I have established communications with the Chimaera, Commander Gilad Pellaeon, acting captain of the Chimaera."

In front of Grand Admiral Teshik a very fuzzy holographic image of Commander Gilad Pellaeon appears, without a formality Teshik says, "Commander Pellaeon, I will cover your withdrawal to the edge of the Endor system, then you will cover mine, understood?"

For a moment, Commander Pellaeon says nothing, just looking at Teshik, realising what the Grand Admiral is offering to do to save the remains of Vader's fleet and then Commander Pellaeon says "I understand sir" With that the communication is ended.

Once Commander Pellaeon holographic image has disappeared, Grand Admiral Teshik then opens, the Eleemosynary ship wide communication and says, "All hands, this is Grand Admiral Teshik. I have spoken to Commander Gilad Pellaeon commanding the fleet from the backup flagship Chimaera. I have agreed that my own squadron will cover the fleet's withdrawal and then we will withdraw, all hands are to prepare for heavy combat. That is all."

Grand Admiral Teshik thinks to himself once he is clear of this system, he can transfer his flag over to the Chimaera and then assume command of the remains of Lord Vader's fleet. Smiling to himself, he seems to have had the last laugh over those other Imperials that had mocked him when he fell out of favour with the Emperor. Though this fleet is damaged it is still a fleet to be reckoned with, once repaired and in the right hands, this fleet can be a powerful force, in the aftermath of the death of the Emperor.

First though he has to get the fleet safely away from Endor.

The Eleemosynary and her accompanying ships of Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron, start to move to cover the bulk of Vader's fleet withdrawing towards the edge of the Endor system, under the coordination of the Chimaera. The level of combat that Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron will be involved in will be extreme and then some!

The space around Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron is alight with weapons fire, starfighters and large amounts of debris, the Rebels reaction to Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron covering the withdrawal, is to momentary pause, as it appears the Rebels were not expecting this move.

Good, thinks Teshik, the Rebels are over confident this will give my force a momentary breather to regroup.

This pause gives Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron time to adjust its position to block the Rebels from perusing the remains of Lord Vader's fleet. The bulk of the Rebel fleet is also trying to regroup, after the destruction of the Death Star, the Imperial fleet has started to disengage and had started to put some distance from the Rebel fleet.

Now however, the Rebels are reforming and trying to pickoff the remains of Lord Vader's Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron is now in the way of the objective and is doing a good job of slowing the Rebels up.

Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron consists of one Imperial I class star destroyer and two Victory I class star destroyers and three medium cruisers, with a fighter force of over one hundred TIE Fighters and Interceptors. This is not a very large command squadron for a Grand Admiral, this is because Grand Admirals do not usually fail in their missions for the Emperor and live, this small command squadron is a punishment off sorts by the Emperor.

The Rebel fleet has also suffered battle damage after engaging the Imperial fleet at point blank range, the Rebels also seem to be more organised than the Imperial forces in Grand Admiral Teshik option. Grand Admiral Teshika also does not understand why the Imperial fleet is performing so badly, even with the destruction of the second Death Star along and the Executor, coordination should be much better.

However, for now there is nothing Grand Admiral Teshik can do about this in the short term, he has a fleet to cover and get out of the system along with his own command squadron. The space around the forest moon of Endor is ablaze with the weapons from not only the ongoing battle, but also the debris from the destroyed Second Death Star, that is flying in all directions.

For the next few hours, Grand Admiral Teshik is able to hold off the Rebel fleet until his star destroyer comes under concentrated enemy fire and the Eleemosynary is seen to explode, shortly after that, the remains of Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron are destroyed by the Rebel fleet.

By then however, the Chimaera has made it to the edge of the Endor system and has begun jumping the remains of Vader's former fleet into hyperspace. Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron has done what it set out to achieve, cover the withdrawal of Vader's fleet from Endor.

For that, Commander Pellaeon will be eternally grateful to Grand Admiral Teshik.

With Commander Pellaeon, along with everyone else assuming Grand Admiral Teshik is dead.

On that day, Commander Pellaeon vows that the Rebels will pay for killing Grand Admiral Teshik, for the moment however Commander Pellaeon has more pressing matters to attend to he must see to the withdrawal of the fleet.

In the months following the Battle of Endor, the newly promoted Captain Pellaeon is placed in charge of the remains of Vader's fleet, by the Imperial Ruling Council, as he commands the back-up command ship the Chimaera and the authority that goes with the flagship, initially Captain Pellaeon concentrates on repairing the battle damage and replacing lost equipment and crew. This takes much longer than it normally would as the Empire begins to fracture, initially Captain Pellaeon sides with the Imperial Ruling Council based in the Core systems.

At the core of Captain Pellaeon are fifteen Imperial II class star destroyers, along with around one hundred other classes of warships and support vessels.

Captain Pellaeon becomes the de facto leader of the remains of most of Vader's fleet that fled Endor after the battle damage warships is repaired Captain Pellaeon would remain in command of Vader's former fleet. Despite the presence of higher-ranking officers such as Admiral Harrsk (who quickly deserted to create his own fiefdom) and Admiral Prittick (who briefly commanded Vader's former fleet while at Annaj) this is presumably at least in part due to the authority vested in the Chimaera itself.

After that, the Chimaera would remain under Pellaeon's command during the tumultuous years that followed, and under Pellaeon's leadership, the Chimaera comes to be regarded as one of the Empire's most efficiently run Imperial class star destroyers.

Some of the other Imperial class star destroyers that remain part of Vader's former fleet and are now under Captain Pellaeon command, these include the Death's Head, Judicator, Inexorable, Stormhawk and the Nemesis to name but a few, along with other supporting warships, this fleet would be held together over the next four years by Captain Pellaeon valiant efforts.

During these four years Vader's former fleet under Captain Pellaeon's leadership would suffer no capital ship losses during combat, this would also be good for Captain Pellaeon reputation as a competent leader, if not a brilliant tactician. Making it much harder for any of the various Imperial Warlords, to either tempt Captain Pellaeon to join them or to discredit him and then take command of Pellaeon's fleet.

Captain Pellaeon would win some battles over the next four years however; these victories would be hollow, as they would be merely covering the retreat from system after system, as the Empire falls back.

None of the various Imperial Warlords seems willing to unite against a common enemy, the Rebels now calling themselves the New Republic instead they are more interested in fighting each other than the New Republic.

In the fifth year after Endor, this record for efficiency may have been what made Grand Admiral Thrawn choose the Chimaera to be his flagship, on his return from the Unknown Regions. The Chimaera along with Captain Pellaeon would see an increase in the size and capability of what had been Vader's former fleet by Grand Admiral Thrawn and an end to the endless series of retreats of the past.

The Thrawn campaign was about to begin.

What no one could know, possibly even Grand Admiral Thrawn, is that a survivor of the Battle of Endor was in the process of rebuilding his strength after managing to escape the battle.

His story starts at the Battle of Endor five years ago.

To be continued.


	2. Chapter 2

**2. A New Beginning**

_"For myself, I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use being anything else." _Winston Churchill

**Whatever Happened to Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik?**

**At the Battle of Endor, Five Years Ago**

On the main bridge of the Eleemosynary, Grand Admiral Teshik is pleased that his command squadron is able to hold the Rebels at bay even though his squadron's fighter force has suffered heavy losses. His command squadron is still fighting even with the various levels of battle damage the various warships have suffered Teshik thinks to himself that it is now time to leave, as the Chimaera has almost reached the edge of the Endor system.

Grand Admiral Teshik says to the bridge crew, "We have achieved our goals, it is now time to leave, helm plot us a course to the rest of the fleet, keep the hyperdrive fully powered whatever happens. Flight ops emergency recall of all of our remaining fighters"

This is followed by a series of "aye sirs" from around the bridge the Eleemosynary and her accompanying warships begin to withdraw, while still under heavy fire from the Rebel warships. Teshik watches as his starfighters begin to disengage and withdraw back to the nearest Imperial warships of Teshik command squadron. This will be a slow and painful process for the Eleemosynary and her accompanying warships however; this withdrawal will not go as planned for Grand Admiral Teshik.

Grand Admiral Teshik suddenly sees that several of the Rebel star cruisers are closing on his command ship, once within range they all open fire on the Eleemosynary, ignoring the other warships of his command squadron. The Eleemosynary shields cannot hold out much longer against this combined fire, looking at the tactical display showing the Eleemosynary rapidly rising level of damage, Grand Admiral Teshik estimates that the Eleemosynary will be destroyed or possibly disabled before they reach the rendezvous point with the rest of the fleet.

Grand Admiral Teshik thinks for only a second on what to do next, before saying, "Helm, innate emergency blind jump into hyperspace."

The helmsman looks up in shock at Grand Admiral Teshik, then seeing the look on Grand Admiral Teshik face says, "Aye air" and activates the hyperdrive at well over full power and without coordinates, something that this is only done when a commander has no other options available. When the hyperdrive is engaged there is a large power surge (due to the battle damage and the emergency engagement of the hyperdrive) boosting the hyperdrive well beyond its operational specifications, at this level of operation the hyperdrive will burn out quite quickly. Before the hyperdrive fails however it will be operating at several thousand percent above normal, allowing the Eleemosynary to cover vast distances that would normally take many months to travel.

From the external viewpoint of the Rebels and the Imperials at Endor, it appears as if the Eleemosynary has exploded, from the blinding flash of jumping into hyperspace in emergency mode.

The truth is very different.

**Hello Death My Old Friend**

With the emergency jump into hyperspace, Teshik is taking a great risk, he is staring death in the face again, just as he had done in the past and again he will survive.

When the Eleemosynary comes out of its emergency hyperspace jump, the Eleemosynary is in the middle of nowhere, with its primary systems rapidly failing and the backups barely able to cope. The Eleemosynary is also slowly tumbling through deep space, fortunately the Eleemosynary artificial gravity system are able to cope with this tumbling, otherwise the crew would be flung around the ship and the crew would impact against the nearest hard surface and be killed.

A few moments after coming out of hyperspace the main reactor shuts down, plunging the ship into almost total darkness, with only the emergency lighting still operating, 30 seconds after the main reactor has shut down, the overtaxed backup systems finally are able to restore some basic systems and then only at minimal levels.

On the partially lit and smoke filled bridge, still sitting in his command chair Grand Admiral Teshik says, "Report?"

With both the Captain and First Officer dead, from the tactical station Lieutenant Commander Frisk looking at his barely functional display's responds, "Admiral, main reactor is down, reason unknown. Both the main and backup hyperdrive's are none operational, as are the sub light engines, location unknown due to the ships main sensors being down along with the main computer, heavy damaged to all areas of the ship."

Grand Admiral Teshik looking out of the bridge windows he can see the star destroyer is in a slow and uncontrolled tumble, this is not helping the overtaxed systems, Teshik says, "Understood, begin repairs to stabilize vital systems first, looks like wherever we are, we will be here for a while. Helm are the manoeuvring thrusters still working?"

The helmsman after looking at his barely functional controls replies, "Aye air"

Grand Admiral Teshik says, "Good, manoeuvring thrusters to station keeping, stabilize our current position, we don't want to bump into anything or continue to overtax the emergency systems by continuing this slow uncontrolled tumbling."

The helmsman replies, "Aye air" and activates the manoeuvring thrusters the Eleemosynary slow uncontrolled tumble slowly stops, after a short while the Eleemosynary is stationary. This helps a bit as emergency power is diverted from the artificial gravity systems (stopping the crew from flying off while the Eleemosynary was tumbling) to other systems, the lights on the bridge strengthen and the air filtration system begins to slowly clear the smoke from the bridge.

Some of the bridge crew look relived to be alive others are glancing at Grand Admiral Teshik with admiration on how he managed to get the Eleemosynary and its crew out of danger.

Grand Admiral Teshik gets up out of his command chair and starts to look over the information from the various tactical displays of the crew pits, so the he can get a quick overview of how extensive the damage to the Eleemosynary is.

As Grand Admiral Teshik looks at the displays, on one display he can see the casualty reports still flooding in from sickbay and other areas of the ship. Structurally the Eleemosynary seems to be ok, although there are several hull breaches these have been contained by the automatic systems by closing of those sections that are exposed to space, by closing the emergency blast doors in those areas.

The weapons systems are heavily damaged, with only forty percent of the Eleemosynary weapons available, however without the main reactor to power them this is a mute point, the same goes for the Eleemosynary weakened shields. The secondary reactors are functional, however there power levels are fluctuating, indicating that they are getting intermittent demands for power from damaged systems from all over the Eleemosynary, this is not helping with the Eleemosynary power needs.

Looking out of the armoured windows of the main bridge across the upper hull of the Eleemosynary Grand Admiral Teshik can see some of the hull breaches across the once ivory white hull, now scorched and blackened by the impact of weapons fire.

Teshik thinks to himself that they are very lucky to be alive.

Grand Admiral Teshik does notice on one of the displays that all of the Eleemosynary damage control teams seem to be almost intact and working to try to either stabilize or bring the key systems back online, to this Grand Admiral Teshik says, "Get more personnel to assist the damage control teams, I think that they could use the help. Anyone with knowledge of how to help the damage control teams should be seconded no matter what their rank, understood?"

From the communications pit, an operator replies, "Air sir, sending the orders out now."

All the crew now knows that they are unlikely to receive any help from the Empire and they are on their own, the crew of the Eleemosynary do not panic, they are highly trained Imperial naval personnel and they have a job to do. The crew will get the Eleemosynary operational again; after all, they have a Grand Admiral leading them.

Now the work will begin in repairing the Eleemosynary, this will not be an easy task or a quick task, however it can be done, the crew is determined that it will be done.

**One Month Later, Exact Location Still Unknown**

After a month of repairs, the Eleemosynary basic systems are now stable, the secondary reactors are functional and also stable, as are those damaged systems that were drawing power intermittently have been either patched/repaired or if possible turned off. The outer hull damage has been patched, the Eleemosynary is beginning to look like a star destroyer once again, with the Eleemosynary stationary, the star destroyer is using very little power this is good for the ships secondary reactors, as this will not overtax them.

Spacetroopers in their armoured spacesuits along with Imperial naval personnel in spacesuits are still seeing to the outer hull damage, along with removing damaged weapons for repairs inside the Eleemosynary, once repaired they are returned. Grand Admiral Teshik thinks to himself, that these repairs could have been completed in just a couple of months in a proper dry-dock, however as there is no dry-dock available, the repairs will take much longer to complete.

**Teshik Quarters**

Later in his quarters, Grand Admiral Teshik is reading the report that Lieutenant Commander Frisk had put together for him, the problems with the Eleemosynary are daunting. The Eleemosynary has lost just over ten thousand crew members, out of a total of thirty-seven thousand, there are also still over a thousand crew members listed as unfit for duty, with the bulk of these wounded unlikely to be able to return to active duty for a long time or ever in a small number of cases.

The engineering report on how the Eleemosynary managed to travel so far in such a short time is intriguing, the engineering report states that the hyperdrive was operating at several thousand percent above normal for a short period of time before it failed (well melted), once the hyperdrive failed, the Eleemosynary then dropped out of hyperspace. Though this report sounds strange, the sensors that monitor the hyperdrive clearly show this, Grand Admiral Teshik thinks to himself this is interesting and lucky for us.

The Imperial Army and Stormtroopers assigned to the Eleemosynary have only lost a few hundred and are almost at full strength. This is a good thing for the Eleemosynary as the Imperial Army and Stormtroopers are helping "filling in" in those areas that there are insufficient naval personnel available.

The Eleemosynary starfighter complement is down to just 34, consisting of 15 TIE Interceptors, 8 TIE fighters and 11 TIE Bombers these are the few that they were able to be recovered before the Eleemosynary blind jump into hyperspace. The fighters that they left behind where destroyed when the remains of Teshik command squadron, was destroyed by the Rebel fleet.

Lieutenant Commander Frisk is standing in front of Grand Admiral Teshik desk in the Grand Admirals office, waiting for Grand Admiral Teshik to finish reading his report.

Grand Admiral Teshik looks up at Lieutenant Commander Frisk and says, "Well at least we are not dead commander?" no reply is expected to this comment. Teshik continues, "according to your report the main hyperdrive will need to be completely rebuilt and the backup is only good for a few very short jumps in its current condition, even if we knew where we were."

Lieutenant Commander Frisk replies, "Yes sir, due to the long range sensors being down, we cannot accurately calculate our exact position, though if I were to hazard a guess I would say we are well within the unknown regions, given the configurations of the stars. This would also mean that we could not use the hyperdrive-equipped shuttles to go for help as there navigation computers would only be able to deal with small jumps. This would mean that the crews would probably run out of supplies before they reach the nearest Imperial base."

Grand Admiral Teshik had already come to the same conclusion and replies, "Agreed commander, in our current condition we are very vulnerable and we do not know what is happening in the rest of the Empire. As our long ranged communications is a pile of melted metal and even if it did work, we are probably well out of range anyway. I also agree about not sending any of the hyperdrive equipped shuttles to call for help, this would be a waste of resources."

Lieutenant Commander Frisk says, "Sir, if I may speak freely?"

Grand Admiral Teshik looks up at Command Frisk and responds, "Permission granted"

Lieutenant Commander Frisk says, "Sir, based on our current condition I think it will take us months or even more than a year, possibly even longer, to get the Eleemosynary in a condition were we can return safely to the Empire. I would suggest for the short term we concentrate on those systems that provide support for the crew, rather than concentrating on such systems as the main reactor or the main hyperdrive."

After thinking for a few moments on Command Frisk suggestions Grand Admiral Teshik says, "I agreed with your assessment Commander, I had already come to the same conclusion, we must continue with the repair work to the Eleemosynary to those systems that maintain life support and other similar critical systems."

Lieutenant Commander Frisk is about to leave when Grand Admiral Teshik says, "Lieutenant Commander, you have done excellent work I am hereby promoting you to the rank of Captain, congratulations Captain Frisk."

A stunned Captain Frisk replies, "Thank you sir."

Grand Admiral Teshik says, "Dismissed captain." Captain Frisk salutes and leaves Grand Admiral Teshik quarters.

Captain Frisk and the crew of the Eleemosynary still have a lot of work ahead of them, however as each system is repaired, conditions onboard the Eleemosynary will steadily improve, this helps with crew moral and is an excellent motivator.

After the battle of Endor, the Eleemosynary engineering complement has only suffered very light causalities, leaving the Eleemosynary with an almost full establishment of engineering staff. This does not include those Imperial Army engineering troops that also makeup the Eleemosynary Imperial Army and Stormtrooper complement. Grand Admiral Teshik has been very lucky in this respect. These Imperial Army engineering troops are added to the ships naval engineering complement to assist in repairing the battle damage.

Over the next few months, the Eleemosynary becomes more liveable, as the various damaged primary systems are brought back online, easing the strain on the various back-up systems. During this time, Grand Admiral Teshik spends most of his time supervising repairs, as the numbers of trained officers that are available, has been greatly reduced in numbers.

The other reason Teshik has for supervising repairs is that Teshik is watching for junior officers and NCOs to promote, over the past few months there have been a spate of promotions within the crew of the Eleemosynary. Only the chief engineer Lieutenant Commander Ian Watts refused to become the Eleemosynary new first officer, he wanted to say with "his" engines, though he did accept his promotion to the rank of Commander.

Grand Admiral Teshik is becoming very personable, like he was before he displeased the Emperor all those years ago.

The career of Osvald Teshik is a long and distinguished one.

**Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik**

Before his promotion to the rank of Grand Admiral, Osvald Teshik was a senior member of the Imperial Navy (before that a rising member of the Old Republics navy in is declining years) with the rank of full Fleet Admiral, Osvald Teshik was very well respected within the Imperial military, in both naval and army high command circles. For this reason (and many more) two years before the Battle of Yavin 4 he was elevated to the newly created rank of Grand Admiral by Emperor Palpatine.

Fleet Admiral Osvald Teshik was the first to be promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral, making Osvald Teshik the most senior of the Grand Admirals, even within the ranks of the Grand Admirals there was a hierarchy.

As one of the Empires 12 Grand Admirals, he answered directly to the Emperor. Teshik was one of Palpatine's most important and trusted Grand Admirals, as he commanded Imperial Centre Oversector these sectors embraced the very capital of the Empire along with its most developed and wealthy worlds, systems and sectors that make up of the sectors of Imperial Centre Oversector.

This position put Teshik in command of not only of the most important oversector, but also all of the fleets attached to the Imperial Centre Oversector including the main defensive fleet of Azure Hammer Command, which included the Executor class star dreadnought Whelm and fifty-seven Imperial class star destroyers, along with thousands of other warships and support vessels. The planet Anaxes, the famous Anaxes Citadel, and, ultimately, all other Imperial forces located in Imperial Centre Oversector. Azure Hammer Command and the Anaxes Citadel would answer to him until just after the Battle of Yavin.

After the Battle of Yavin Grand Admiral Teshik would command the forces under him from the new Executor class star dreadnought the Whelm, this Executor class was one of the first batch produced after the Executor itself and was a personnel gift from the Emperor. This gift made Teshik even more loyal to the Emperor, as he saw it as a testimony of his skill as a Grand Admiral receiving the second Executor class after Lord Vader.

Grand Admiral Teshik was tasked with keeping the Core Sectors of the Imperial Centre Oversector safe, he took this duty very seriously. During his time, protecting the Core Worlds, Systems and Sectors Grand Admiral Teshik was responsible for vastly improving the defences of the Core Worlds in the Imperial Centre Oversector, leading to the destruction of a number of Rebel resistance cells within these worlds under his commands protection.

From his position as commander of the Imperial Centre Oversector Grand Admiral Teshik is well aware of many of the Emperors secret projects and there locations throughout the galaxy. Though Grand Admiral Teshik knows the locations of a quite a few of these projects, he does not know them all, as the Emperor is not one for sharing all his secrets with one individual, even with Lord Vader.

As military commander of Imperial Centre Oversector, Teshik was in almost daily contact with the Emperor and Lord Vader, after the destruction of the first Death Star. Grand Admiral Teshik helped the Emperor and Lord Vader assemble a fleet of Imperial warships to peruse the Rebels across that galaxy. In this respect, Grand Admiral Teshik did gain many enemies within the Imperial court, however with both the Emperor and Lord Vader backing him, no one would move against Grand Admiral Teshik, for fear of raising Lord Vader or even the Emperor's wraith.

At the height of his power (just after the Battle of Yavin) Grand Admiral Teshik either directly or indirectly controlled half the Imperial battle fleet, giving him a formidable military force under his command.

Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik was also notable for his compassion, this trait is very rare among high Imperial officials this trait earned him the loyalty of those who severed under him. This compassion should not be viewed as a weakness, as Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik was no pushover, otherwise the Emperor would never have promoted him to the rank of Grand Admiral.

Just over a year after the Battle of Yavin, this changed when Imperial Advisor Coh Veshiv was abducted from a space station above Esseles, just after the destruction of the first Death Star, by the privateer frigate Far Orbit Palpatine tasked Teshik with the retrieval of Veshiv, as the advisor had been abducted from within Teshik's own domain. The Emperor personally threatened Teshik with execution if he did not immediately deal with the ship and its captain, Dhas Fenoep Vedij.

However, Teshik failed to rescue Veshiv and kill Vedij, so Palpatine ordered the Grand Admiral to attack the isolationist Hapes Consortium with insufficient forces and materiel as an example to the other Grand Admirals that even they were not beyond reproach. Teshik met in battle with the famed Hapan war fleet, composed of Hapan Battle Dragons and Nova class battle cruisers, during the battle Teshik was nearly killed.

Teshik survived only by using all the skill that he possessed (proving that his combat skills' as a Grand Admiral was still well deserved and then some). Teshik also managed to preserve a number of warships, including his flagship for the mission to Hapan, the Imperial I class star destroyer Eleemosynary. This ship would later become his new flagship, with the remains of the force that was used against Hapan war fleet becoming part of his "new" command squadron, after the Azure Hammer Command was taken away from him by the Emperor as an ongoing punishment for his failure to rescue Veshiv and kill Vedij.

Despite the odds being against him, however, Teshik survived his injuries, upon returning to the Empire, his life was saved only by replacing almost seventy-five percent of his body with cybernetic parts. Teshik retained his position and rank as Grand Admiral, however he was the target of much abuse and discrimination because of his cybernetics.

The Empire was not only xenophobic, but they also shunned the ill and weak, serious mutilations were rare due to widespread use of bacta. Thus, Teshik was universally shunned and an object of revulsion. He lost direct command of the Whelm and transferred his flag to the Imperial class star destroyer Eleemosynary along with the remains of the forces that survived the attack against the Hapes Consortium this squadron was Teshik "new" battle fleet.

This ostracization, shame and unending prejudice hardened and darkened his heart.

As a result, Teshik would completely cut himself off from his emotions.

However, Teshik was still a Grand Admiral and loyal to the Emperor and the Empire, even after what the Emperor had done to him. Teshik would have to wait three years before he would be back in the Emperors favour again.

Three years later Grand Admiral Teshik helped defeat Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin coup against Palpatine. Zaarin had finalized his plans for a coup against Palpatine. Immediately after Vader killed Xizor in a battle over Imperial Centre, the Dark Lord cornered the remainder of the late Admiral Harkov's forces in the Ottega system. However, while Vader's forces where struggling there so the Dark Lord requested the aid of Zaarin's forces.

The Grand Admiral Zaarin, however, had other ideas. With Vader so far away from Imperial Centre, Zaarin decided to make his move against Palpatine, in an attempt to install himself as ruler of the galaxy.

With Grand Admiral Zaarin's plot defeated and Grand Admiral Teshik showing his loyalty to the Emperor, Grand Admiral Teshik was again back in the Emperors favour again, Teshik was invited to Endor to witness the destruction of the Rebels originally Grand Admiral Teshik was not going to be invited.

The Emperor would during the final few weeks before the Battle of Endor, give Grand Admiral Teshik the location of a few of his most secret projects (though not all of them), by making Grand Admiral Teshik commander of these projects. Some of these projects had been under Grand Admiral Zaarin's command, including the remains of the advanced TIE designs and research/production facilities. To ensure their safety Grand Admiral Teshik would after Endor tour these facilities to ensure that they are properly guarded. Grand Admiral Teshik would be in charge of guarding some of the Emperors most secret military projects, including some of those projects that the Emperor had used to defeat Grand Admiral Zaarin.

However, the Battle of Endor was not the victory the Emperor had hoped for.

As Teshik attempted to escape the Death Star, Teshik would go through a life-changing event during his attempt to flee the Death Star Teshik was pinned beneath a fallen column. None who passed him would help him out of the myriad of Imperials fleeing the station, bar a lone construction worker, who stopped and freed him. The worker's generosity and kindness worked a transformation within Teshik the past few years of abuse and disdain fell away and Teshik regained his long-lost compassion Teshik had once shown towards others.

During the initial months after the Battle of Endor Teshik slowly restored his emotions and long-lost compassion, the crew of the Eleemosynary are now extremely loyal to Teshik, after he had managed to save them from destruction at Endor. With this re-found compassion, the crew of the Eleemosynary are becoming even more loyal to Teshik as the days, weeks and months go by.

Grand Admiral Teshik is no longer the cold, distant and cruel figure he once was, he is now becoming the Grand Admiral he once was before Palpatine had sent him to attack the Hapes Consortium. Grand Admiral Teshik is a changed man, still a brilliant tactician, possibly even more dangerous now than before Endor, as Teshik is not blinded by his former rage, woe betide those who dare to go up against Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik.

Teshik is also still very loyal (strangely) to the late Emperor, due to the Emperor trusting Teshik again after Teshik helped defeat Grand Admiral Zaarin. To this end, Teshik will carry out the Emperors final orders, to protect the Emperors secret projects that the Emperor had entrusted to him prior to Endor at all costs.

To this end, Teshik has begun to formulate a daring plan, to carry out the Emperors final orders.

**Eleemosynary, Location Unknown**

The repair work on the Eleemosynary is continuing it is estimated that within the next five months, the Eleemosynary will be able to make a series of short jumps using a combination of her backup hyperdrive and reactors. This will allow the Eleemosynary to jump to the nearest habitable system that appears to be near the star destroyers current location.

As with all Imperial-class star destroyers' the Eleemosynary can if needed manufacture their own spare parts in the various workshops spread throughout the Eleemosynary, though normally this does not need to happen as an Imperial warship is never far from an Imperial supply depot. However, things are not normal as the Eleemosynary is currently far from any Imperial supply depots, therefore the crew will have to manufacture its own replacement parts.

Once this working completed the Eleemosynary should be able to reach the closest system, to the Eleemosynary current location.

**Re-Birth of a Star Destroyer**

In deep space, in the darkness between stars, the Imperial class star destroyer Eleemosynary hangs in space, slowly but steadily being prepared so that the Eleemosynary can jump to the nearest habitable systems for the resources the ship for the construction of the parts that the Eleemosynary cannot manufacture with the resources onboard or does not carry.

This first step is about to be taken.

**Six Months after Endor, Unknown Regions, Exact Location Still Unknown**

After six months of hard work by the crew of the Eleemosynary have been able to get the main computer back online and fully functional, this has eased the strain on the ships backup computer systems. The long ranged sensors are still none operational however with the main computer fully functional and using, the Eleemosynary short ranged sensors. The crew have managed to find a nearby system that is likely to provide the raw materials for making the parts needed to repair those systems such as the main hyperdrive and main sensors, along with providing fresh hull plating to replace the current patch job on the hull.

All over the Eleemosynary, there is a hive of activity in not only repairing the battle damage, but also the day to day operations of an star destroyer need to be done as well. The remaining TIE Fighters and Interceptors patrol the space around the Eleemosynary, though only in pairs, as there are not enough TIE Fighters or Interceptors for larger patrols.

The remaining damage to the Eleemosynary is not critical though without a fully functional main hyperdrive it will be almost impossible to return to the Empire, as the backup hyperdrive was never designed to cover such distances, which would allow the Eleemosynary to return to the Empire. Just over sixty percent of the weapons systems have been repaired, the rest will need to be rebuilt the ships shields can now be powered to fifty percent of full strength, though without the main reactor, they will be unable to fully charge.

On the bridge, Grand Admiral Teshik is sitting in his command chair waiting for Captain Frisk to report that the backup hyperdrive system is ready for use, in addition all available weapons and shields have been prepared, just in the unlikely event of any hostiles in the system they are going to jump too.

A short while later Teshik asks, "Captain, is my flagship ready?"

Captain Frisk snaps to attention and replies, "The Eleemosynary is fully at your command, Grand Admiral," the formal question and response a ghostly remembrance of the days before Endor when proper military protocol was the order of the day. Here and now a slightly different military protocol exists, were all crewmembers and troops of the Eleemosynary are allowed to make suggestions freely, without fear of being punished or executed.

This freedom to make suggestions, has led to some surprising ideas on how to speed up repairs and improve existing systems coming from the Eleemosynary crew, a large number of these ideas have been adopted by Grand Admiral Teshik. This has led to an increase in crew moral the officers are now much less distant with the crew than before Endor they are taking their lead from Grand Admiral Teshik who is much more personable than before Endor.

Teshik replies, "Excellent" He swivelled slightly in his chair to fully face Captain Frisk.

Teshik then says, "Captain, begin the count, to the jump into hyperspace."

Captain Frisk replies, "Yes sir." Swivels his own chair towards the helm crew pit and says, "Helm, jump into hyperspace on my mark."

The helmsman in a slightly excited tone replies, "Aye sir, backup hyperdrive online, ready for your command" with his hand hovering over the backup hyperdrive activation lever.

Captain Frisk says, "Jumping in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Innate jump."

The helmsman replies, "Aye sir, backup hyperdrive active" and pulls the backup hyperdrive activation lever.

The Eleemosynary slowly jumps into hyperdrive, as the ship enters hyperspace, the bridge crew cheer with relief, the backup hyperdrive is a slow class eight and is not designed to travel long distances or to be used for extended periods, however it should get them to the nearest habitable system from their current location.

Several days later, the Eleemosynary has arrived in a system that the short ranged sensors have indicated that there is a habitable world, the initial survey quickly concludes that the fourth planet in the system and can support life, though from the initial survey there appears to be no sentient life on the planet. The Eleemosynary enters orbit around the fourth planet and launches her TIE Interceptors for a basic planetary survey.

After thirty-six hours, the basic survey concludes that the planet can provide the resources that are needed to produce the required materials to manufacture replacement parts that the Eleemosynary needs. This basic survey also confirms the absence of sentient life on the planet, as there are no structures at any level to indicate the presence of sentient life or basic inhabitants on the planet.

Grand Admiral Teshik orders that the Eleemosynary pre fabricated garrison base be deployed near the largest source of raw materials, the pre fabricated garrison base along with its equipment had suffered no damage at all during the Battle of Endor, as the garrison base is stored deep within the Eleemosynary cargo bays.

A pre-fabricated base consists of eight levels, topped by a sensor and communications tower. Levels one through to five, all identical in size and shape, these consist mainly of the large surface vehicle bays where all the surface vehicles are stored, maintained and deployed from. They also contain most of the personnel quarters as well as the armoury, detention cells and most other key base areas.

Garrison bases are equipped with three heavy twin turbolaser turrets and six heavy laser turrets, as well as tractor beam projectors they also are equipped with a shield generator, this shield generator is designed to protect the base from orbital bombardment with the shield being able to be extended up to three kilometres out from the base.

The base also possesses extensive ground defences such as anti-infantry and anti-vehicle minefields and a ten-meter high, electrified death fence. This has variable power settings, so it could either, severely shock an individual or fry them outright in an instant, depending on the base commander's choice.

To get through the fence and into the base, enemy units would have to pass through force field protected gates these gates are flanked by two guard towers, with stormtroopers on constant duty, additional stormtroopers can be positioned evenly around the fence's perimeter to provide additional security. Running behind the fence and parallel to it is an elevated catwalk patrolled by stormtroopers with guard towers (each equipped with electrobinoculars, floodlights, and alarm systems) spaced every 100 meters. This fence is much further away from the base than normal this is because of the additional production equipment that is being setup around the garrison base.

Grand Admiral Teshik will deploy the bulk of the Eleemosynary ground equipment, along with the bulk of his troops, as this will free up considerable space onboard the Eleemosynary, in addition all 11 TIE Bombers will be deployed to the garrison base, the remaining TIE Fighters and Interceptors will remain onboard the Eleemosynary.

A Major General would normally command a garrison base however the highest-ranking Imperial Army Commander left onboard the Eleemosynary is Brigadier Stephen Johns, he will command the garrison base, as well as overseeing the setting up the mining and manufacturing operations.

The garrison base only takes a few weeks to set-up and become operational, after that mining can begin in earnest, along with setting up a small manufacturing facility. A large manufacturing facility is unnecessary, as the number of replacement parts that are needed is small. The setting up of the mining and manufacturing operations only takes four weeks, as the Imperial engineering personnel are more than qualified to set-up this type of operation.

Brigadier Johns, is proving quite capable of handling such an operation, Grand Admiral Teshik will give Brigadier Johns space to run the mining and production operation as he sees fit, Teshik will keep an eye on the operation, but not breathing down Brigadier Johns neck or try to be a "back seat driver" on either the mining or production operations.

With the Eleemosynary now in geo stationary orbit over the garrison base, the production of the various replacement parts can begin.

**Twelve Months after Endor**

After another six months of hard work, the main reactor is now repaired and fully operational, as are all the weapons systems and shields onboard the Eleemosynary, the main hyperdrive has not only been repaired but also upgraded from the former class 2 to the much faster class 1. The long-ranged communications is still being rebuild this work should be completed within the next two months, possibly sooner.

Grand Admiral Teshik has been using the remaining hyperdrive equipped four Lambda-class shuttles and two Sentinel class landing craft, to scout out and map the surrounding systems. Much to Teshik relief they find no sign of life in any of these systems and these shuttle missions manage to make accurate star maps of the local space.

Teshik does now know that they are well inside the Unknown Regions, in fact they are on the far edge of the Unknown Regions, as far away from the known galaxy as is possible, this is the opposite edge that boarders known space and the Empire.

One unusual offshoot of the mining operations is the discovery of large quantities of precious metals and gemstones these have been stored as they are no use for rebuilding the Eleemosynary. These precious metals and gemstones are currently stored in several warehouses, the total value of these resources are estimated to currently be around several hundred million credits.

The amount of precious metals and gemstones is growing at a steady rate. Most of the crew are more concerned about getting the Eleemosynary repaired and returning to the Empire, after all this wealth is not much use if they cannot repair the Eleemosynary.

Grand Admiral Teshik has plans for these precious metals and gemstones, if they manage to get back to the galaxy. Grand Admiral Teshik has been thinking about what the current state of the galaxy would be in when he returns he does have some very nasty suspicions on what would been happening.

When he does return Teshik's worst suspicions and fears will be proved correct.

For now, Grand Admiral Teshik has put these thoughts to the back of his mind, as he still needs to get the Eleemosynary operational before he can take any other decisions.

**Eighteen Months after Endor**

After another six months of hard work by the crew of the Eleemosynary, the ships main hyperdrive has been repaired at the same time, the hyperdrive has been upgraded to a much faster class one hyperdrive replacing the original class two. The Eleemosynary main sensors are also now operational after being completely rebuilt this will allow the Eleemosynary to chart a way back to the galaxy, once the series of test flights are complete.

After the series of test flights have been completed, Grand Admiral Teshik leaving behind several hyperspace capable shuttlecraft for the garrison base (just in case), takes the Eleemosynary back to the Empire.

What Grand Admiral Teshik finds when he returns is a galaxy in a state of civil war, this saddens him and the crew of the Eleemosynary, in that the Empire appears to be tearing itself apart, this is so wrong in Grand Admiral Teshik mind.

Grand Admiral Teshik decides not to bother announcing his return, or trying to reunite the various Imperial factions, as he considers this would not succeed (Teshik is wrong in this respect). Instead, Teshik decides to go to several of the Emperors secret bases (that he knows about) and retrieve various bits of equipment and personnel that should still be there, even after all this time.

**Main Bridge, Eleemosynary**

Grand Admiral Teshik is looking at the report from Captain Frisk on the current state of the Empire Grand Admiral Teshik is not amused by how the Empire has been divided into various warring factions, in just two years since the Emperors death at Endor.

Teshik says to Captain Frisk, "Well Captain this is a mess"

Captain Frisk replies, "Yes sir"

Teshik says, "I want nothing to do with these scum, I have been given orders by the late Emperor prior to Endor. I intend to carry out those orders."

Captain Frisk responds, "Yes sir, if I may ask what the late Emperors orders were?"

Teshik replies, "The Emperor prior to Endor gave me the locations of several of his own secret projects with orders to protect these projects from falling into the wrong hands. As I see it all the current Imperial factions fall into the category of the 'wrong hands', do you agree Captain?"

Captain Frisk replies, "Yes sir I do. I think that those leading these mini Empires are traitors to the Empire as a whole."

Teshik responds, "Good Captain" than calling up the location of the first location of the nearest secret base from his own records, Teshik goes onto to say, "Here is the location of the first base, we will start there."

Captain Frisk responds, "Yes sir, Helm begin plotting a course to these coordinates."

The helmsman replies, "Aye sir" and begins plotting a hyperspace route.

Teshik says, "While we are doing this continue to monitor the Imperial, Rebel and Civil communications to see if we can get a better overall picture of the various main powers and what they maybe up to."

Captain Frisk responds, "Yes sir, I would also recommend if the opportunity arises, attacking targets of opportunity for additional supplies, I would also recommend sticking to the smaller Rebels bases."

Teshik responds, "Captain I was wondering when you would suggest that, I approve here are the provisional list of small Rebel bases that I have selected as our first targets."

Captain Frisk smiles and replies, "Yes sir" and then thinks to himself that will teach me to underestimate a Grand Admiral.

Word soon spreads around the Eleemosynary about the state of the Empire this is greeted with a mixture of loathing and contempt by the crew of the Eleemosynary. They will follow Grand Admiral Teshik, as none of them wants to be under the "protection" of one of the numerous Imperial Warlords that have sprung up and they defiantly do not want to surrender to the Rebels.

Assuming that is the commanders of these bases (that have Imperial personnel assigned to them) will join with Grand Admiral Teshik. Though Teshik has no doubt they will, after all the Emperor himself ordered the commanders of these bases to obey him, they would not have been appointed by the Emperor, if the Emperor could not count on these base commanders to obey.

To be continued.


	3. Chapter 3

**3. A New Direction**

_"It's no use saying, we are doing our best. You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary." _Winston Churchill

The Emperor had given each Grand Admiral (along with other senior Imperials) some of his secrets (research projects etc) for them to be aware of (or even run) and keep safe for him or as rewards just to make sure they remain loyal with the hint that more of his secrets would be given to them over time. The Emperor had so many secret projects, these numbered into the thousands (each varying in size, like the first Death Star under Tarkin), scatted throughout the Empire, with some of these projects being under the control of the Emperors underlings, such as Grand Admiral Teshik. No one within the Empire (except the Emperor) knew the full extent or the numbers or locations of all these secret projects that the Emperor was operating at any one time.

Grand Admiral Teshik knew the locations of only a few of the Emperors secrets, one in particular that the Emperor gave him just prior to Endor and will be of great use in the short term. With the cargo-holds of the Eleemosynary virtually empty (thanks to the deployment of the garrison base), Teshik can use the Eleemosynary to transport the equipment to his base in the unknown regions.

Grand Admiral Teshik will also relocate the families of the remaining crewmembers to Sanctuary Base, this part is much easier than Grand Admiral Teshik had anticipated it would be, as the state of disarray the galaxy is in it is good cover for such an operation. As a lone Imperial class star destroyer, jumping from system to system, collecting Imperial personnel is practically ignored by the various Imperial factions and the New Republic takes only a casual interest in this lone star destroyer.

The Eleemosynary IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) will be reconfigured to resemble that of the Imperial class star destroyer Invincible II, so if the Eleemosynary is scanned neither the Rebels nor the various Imperial factions, will not know that Grand Admiral Teshik is still alive. The knowledge that Teshik is still alive would cause Teshik too many problems in acquiring the various projects and families of the remaining crewmembers and transferring them to Sanctuary Base.

However, the Emperor's secret bases come first, then rescuing the families of the crewmembers, comes next.

This first of the Emperors secret bases that Grand Admiral Teshik to deal with is one holding the schematics, production machinery and prototypes of most of the advanced fighter projects of the Empire.

**Base Epsilon**

In the void between star systems, the Emperor had found a small moon sized planet, this moon was drifting between the star systems, which the Emperor had converted into a base of one of his numerous secret research projects. How this moon came to be drifting between the stars no one could understand and the Emperor was not interested how, the Emperor was only interested in setting up a research base on this lone moon. Once of the first thing the Emperor was to halt the moons current movement between the stars.

As soon as the Eleemosynary drops out of hyperspace, the communications operator sends a recognition signal so that the bases defences will not immediately open fire on the Eleemosynary, a few moments after the recognition signal has been sent the communications operator says, "Admiral we are being hailed."

Teshik replies, "Put it through" in front of Teshik command chair a holographic image of a man in an Imperial uniform, with the rank of Captain in the Imperial navy, along with a patch indicating he is also a pilot.

The navy captain is slightly surprised to see Teshik as he though the Grand Admiral was dead, then he says, "Greetings Grand Admiral Teshik, how may I help you?"

Teshik replies, "It is more of how I can help you Captain Morrison"

Captain Morrison frowns and asks, "How you can help me Grand Admiral?"

Teshik replies, "Yes Captain, I intend to relocate this base and all of the resources allocated to a base deep within the unknown regions."

Captain Morrison frowns and says, "A base within the unknown regions, why bother to move we have not been discovered by the so call New Republic?"

Teshik replies, "That is true Captain, however in the long term this may change, in addition I will be activating your two fighter-wings and integrate them into my own forces."

Captain Morrison says, "Interesting Grand Admiral, by why do you need my two fighter wings, your resources should be sufficient."

Teshik replies, "Unfortunately they are not Captain, it is a long story if you join me I will brief you on it. I will also be moving several of the other secret projects that are also under my care, to my base within the unknown regions, all I need to know from you, is are you Captain going to obey my orders?"

For several moments, Captain Morrison thinks about what Grand Admiral Teshik has told him, Teshik knows that Captain Morrison will be tempted by the offer of returning to active service rather than guarding Epsilon Base.

Captain Morrison then says, "I will join with you Grand Admiral Teshik, as my last orders from the Emperor where to follow your orders, so I place the resources of Epsilon Base at your disposal, I await you command Grand Admiral Teshik."

Teshik replies, "Thank you Captain Morrison for you support. My first order is to begin evacuating the personnel and resources from Epsilon Base. Can you let me know the volume of the resources that need evacuating, as I will need to know if they will fit inside my star destroyers empty cargo bays?"

Captain Morrison replies, "That will not be necessary sir, I have two Star Galleon class frigates available for evacuation."

Teshik smiles and says, "That is excellent news Captain you may begin evacuation as soon as possible. You will transfer a wing of starfighters to my command ship the rest will be transported to their new base within the unknown regions."

Captain Morrison replies, "Understood Admiral I will begin at once."

It will take several months to strip this base of its equipment and supplies however they have plenty of time, as no one knows that this base exists.

Captain Morrison active fighters will be transferred onboard the Eleemosynary to serve as the Eleemosynary fighter wing. These fighters will be a mix of TIE Advanced also known as the TIE Avenger (36) and TIE Defenders (36) given the Eleemosynary a powerful fighter wing.

**Fighter Wings**

It takes only a few months for Teshik and the crew of the Eleemosynary to ship the resources and personnel to Teshik's base in the Unknown Regions, as well as the families of the Eleemosynary crew. The Emperors secrets are a mix of technology, personnel and equipment of various sorts, most of the personnel are happy to be moved far away from the gathering civil war, as they all know Grand Admiral Teshik had been given command of these secret storehouses and bases.

The Imperial Navy Captain in charge of one of the Emperors secret bases is more than happy to join with Grand Admiral Teshik, as the Emperor had placed Teshik in charge of his project before Endor. This will give Captain Morrison a chance to continue development of his particular pieces of technology, along with using this technology operationally once again. The additional personnel will replace some of the losses suffered by the Eleemosynary in addition to additional ships have been brought with them these are a pair of Star Galleon class frigates, along with various light freighters etc from the other bases.

Grand Admiral Teshik will spend the next two years with the dual role of transferring the remaining research projects to Sanctuary Base and in addition to raiding various New Republic outposts for various supplies and equipment that he needs, Grand Admiral Teshik will deliberately avoid his fellow Imperials. Grand Admiral Teshik supplies and resources will slowly grow, along with a small number of personnel, mostly freed Imperial prisoners of war during his attacks against New Republic outposts.

Using some of the equipment that he has acquired from the Emperors secrets, Grand Admiral Teshik commands combat strength is once again growing. This proves how capable a Grand Admiral is even with just one Imperial class star destroyer at his disposal.

Sanctuary Base is quickly developing into a small colony along with becoming highly self-sufficient.

Each of these raids is very bloody and brutal, all prisoners that are taken, once all useful information is drained from them, they are then executed. During these raids, the Eleemosynary does not dump her garbage before jumping into hyperspace, as this will leave clues behind for the New Republic. Due to these measures the New Republic known that there is a lone star destroyer raiding there outposts, but the New Republic does not have a clue who is commanding this lone star destroyer, Teshik tactics are working very well against the New Republic.

After nearly two years of raiding, Grand Admiral Teshik, takes the Eleemosynary back to Sanctuary Base to give the crew of the Eleemosynary a rest after nearly two years of attacks against various New Republic outposts. The rest period will not last very long as news of another surviving Grand Admiral will reach Teshik.

The New Republic has also been investigating the attacks on its outposts the New Republic will come to the wrong conclusions on where these attacks originated from this will lead the New Republic into an investigative dead end.

Grand Admiral Teshik is using small light freighters being used as signals intelligence (often contracted to SIGINT) is intelligence gathering by interception of signals, whether between people (COMINT, or communications intelligence), whether involving electronic signals not directly used in communication (ELINT, or electronic intelligence), or combinations of the two. As sensitive information is often encrypted, signals intelligence often involves the use of cryptanalysis. Also, traffic analysis the study of who is signalling whom and in what quantity can often produce valuable information, even when the messages themselves cannot be decrypted.

Almost five years after Endor, using information gained via SIGINT Grand Admiral Teshik will learn of the return of another Imperial Grand Admiral, Thrawn.

Teshik had assumed that he was the last Grand Admiral, but Teshik was wrong.

**Another Grand Admiral Lives**

Grand Admiral Teshik is reading the report on Grand Admiral Thrawn's recent return Teshik says to Captain Frisk, "So Thrawn is back and trying to rebuild the Empire?"

Captain Frisk replies, "Yes sir, it appears from our initial reports, though these reports are a few weeks old, that Grand Admiral Thrawn is commanding a small Imperial Fleet from the Imperial II class star destroyer Chimaera. This small Imperial Fleet looks like the remains of Lord Vader's fleet from Endor."

Teshik says to Captain Frisk, "So Thrawn is alive, most interesting, this changes everything, Captain set a course for the galaxy, I will give you a more precise location later on it is time for me to have a chat with Grand Admiral Thrawn."

Captain Frisk replies, "Yes sir, I will set a course right away." Captain Frisk then leaves, a short time later the Eleemosynary jumps into hyperspace.

Grand Admiral Teshik will have time to think of what he will say to Thrawn when they meet, for the moment he needs to figure out where Thrawn might be. Teshik begins analysing the reports on Thrawn's probable location by the time the Eleemosynary reaches the Empire Teshik has Thrawn's probable location.

**New Republic**

Five years after Endor, New Republic intelligence, has picked up rumours that a lone Imperial class star destroyer is roaming the space lanes occasionally attacking New Republic outposts. New Republic intelligence has attempted to locate this lone Imperial class star destroyer, but so far, they have failed to find any trace.

Due to this failure to locate or even, identify this lone Imperial class star destroyer New Republic intelligence has concluded that this star destroyer belongs to one of the Imperial Factions that is using this star destroyer to attack various New Republic outposts to try to keep the New Republics military off balance. Therefore New Republic intelligence switches is attention from trying to find this lone star destroyer to fining out which Imperial faction is sending this star destroyer out attack New Republic outposts.

New Republic intelligence is unaware that this star destroyer does not belong to any of the known Imperial factions.

When Thrawn returns, New Republic intelligence will assume that these attacks against their outposts where part of Thrawn's opening campaign against the New Republic, New Republic intelligence has the right idea, but the wrong Grand Admiral.

Even worse, for the New Republic, they do not realise that there are two Grand Admirals still alive and that one of the Grand Admirals is heading for the location of the other Grand Admiral.

As Grand Admiral Teshik heads towards Thrawn's locations, Teshik has been reviewing what he has been able to achieve over the past few years.

During the past five years', Grand Admiral Teshik has been expanding his base within the Unknown Regions, Sanctuary Base is now well established, at its centre is the Pre Fabricated Garrison Base, with the various living, research and production facilities surrounding the Garrison Base.

Brigadier Johns runs Sanctuary Base very efficiently, Grand Admiral Teshik is quite happy to leave the day to day running of Sanctuary Base in Brigadier Johns. Advanced TIE starfighter production is very limited as only replacement and testbed fighters are needed, mass production is pointless, as Grand Admiral Teshik does not have enough pilots for that.

The various research programs have been restarted most of them are focused on the advanced TIE fighter programs, such as an improved versions of the TIE Defender and Advanced.

With Grand Admiral Teshik out of communications range in the Unknown Regions, for this, Grand Admiral Teshik conceives several different ways of gaining intelligence and equipment, by means other than raiding Rebel bases and outposts. One being the use of several light freighters for gaining signals intelligence (SIGINT), then these signals being recorded and returned every thirty days to Sanctuary Base for analyse.

The second is a much different plan that is much more involved than the first and carry's much more risk, this second plan also allows Grand Admiral Teshik not only to gain information by also resources as well.

**Strange Bedfellows**

Just after Teshik return to the galaxy (almost three years ago), while the various Imperial factions are jostling for more power, Grand Admiral Teshik had a plan to acquire spare parts, manufacturing equipment to expand the base on the planet on the far edge of the Unknown Regions, now known as Sanctuary Base. Grand Admiral Teshik had been thinking of the options available to him in acquiring what he needs to expand his operations, Teshik had quickly rejected outright joining any of the various Imperial factions that are at war with each other.

Instead, Teshik has decided to get the Cull Syndicate to steal what he needs, the Cull Syndicate is a criminal organization that specializes in acquiring whatever people want, for a high price. Grand Admiral Teshik has selected a small team for this initial contact, consisting of Major Lorton and three storm commandos (in civilian clothing) acting as Major Lorton's bodyguards.

Major Lorton is a member of Imperial Military Intelligence (IMI) and a former undercover operative he is more than qualified for this type of operation. On the bridge of the Eleemosynary Major Hall Lorton is going through his final briefing with Grand Admiral Teshik.

Major Lorton says, "Admiral, it will take around six weeks to get back to the galaxy and another six to eight weeks to contact the Cull Syndicate, we could try to speed this up, but that would be dangerous."

Grand Admiral Teshik replies, "I agree Major, take your time, you have an adequate supply of gemstones onboard your freighter?"

Major Lorton says, "Yes sir we have enough."

Grand Admiral Teshik glancing at the specification of the Seeker is an YT-2000 light freighter that combines the YT-1300's successful saucer-like design with the YT-1930's symmetrical theme, including the centralized cockpit placement. The standard cockpit design of the YT-2000 deviated from the pilot and co-pilot sitting side by side, as in previous models. Instead, the pilot sat in front while the co-pilot situated behind and raised above the pilot, with no room for any other people in the cockpit.

Due to the turbulent times in which the ship was designed and produced (just before and after Endor), the YT-2000 boasts heavier standard shields and weapons (two dual laser turrets) than most civilian freighters, certainly than any of its predecessors. The heavy armament and shields, coupled with its speed and manoeuvrability made this type of freighter hard to capture and equally had to kill.

Grand Admiral Teshik asks, "If everything goes as planned, how long until you have the items we need for pickup?"

Major Lorton replies, "I would say about four months after we have made contact, after that additional acquisitions would easily be possible, as the Cull Syndicate would see us as irregular customers and knowing the Cull Syndicate, they do protect their clients privacy as long as the money lasts."

Grand Admiral Teshik is satisfied and replies, "Good, proceed and Major good luck."

Major Lorton replies, "Thank you sir," salutes and leaves the bridge with the other members of his team in tow. A few minutes later, the crew of the Seeker is on its way back to the galaxy to start their mission.

**Cull Syndicate Base**

Several weeks later…

The current base of operations for the Cull Syndicate is a small and obscure planet in the outer rim territories, which is part of the Pentastar Alignment this is good for the Cull Syndicate as the Pentastar Alignment is more focused on protecting its borders than what goes on inside their borders, for the most part.

The Cull Syndicate representative Hag Morgan has been with the Cull Syndicate all his adult life and has risen up through the ranks of the Cull Syndicate, he is now a major deal maker for the Cull Syndicate. This latest deal will if it goes through will be the largest of his career and Hag Morgan is not about to let this deal fall through.

Even though this deal will be, the biggest of his career Hag Morgan has done some background checks on this character Jack Smite (Major Lorton) and has concluded that this is not his real identity (no real surprise). This fact does not worry Hag Morgan and many of the customers of the Cull Syndicate do not use their real names or even who, they are working for when doing business.

Hag Morgan has a suspicion that this Jack Smite is a former Imperial officer he has come to conclusion that this Jack Smite is buying equipment for one of the various Imperial Warlords. Hag Morgan has passed his concerns on to the members of the Cull Syndicate board who after careful consideration have allowed this meeting to proceed.

Jack Smite along with his three bodyguards have already entered the Cull Syndicate base, they have also been scanned on entry into the building, and the three bodyguards are heavily armed with Jack Smite also armed.

On entry into Hag Morgan's office, two of the three bodyguards wait outside the door with the third standing behind and to the left of Jack Smite, carrying a small armoured case.

Hag Morgan starts by saying, "Welcome, what can we do for you?"

Jack Smite replies, "Thank you for your welcome. The people I represent require some items of equipment, this equipment needs to be acquired without any trace to the people I represent."

Hag Morgan responds, "Anything can be acquired for the right price."

Jack Smite replies, "Indeed, it can. To show our good faith, we would like to offer this as a deposit." Jack Smite indicates to his bodyguard who hands him a small armoured case, Jack Smite then opens the case and tips the contents (uncut gemstones) onto Hag Morgan desk. This makes Hag Morgan's eyes widen, as he studies the gemstones worth several million credits, now lying on his desk, he asks, "What can we do to assist you?"

Jack Smite smiles at Hag Morgan and replies, "I have several 'items' that we need" then hands Hag Morgan a data stick containing the first stage requirements that Grand Admiral Teshik gave him.

Hag Morgan takes the data stick and puts it in his computer and scans the list, then he says, "Some of these items can be purchased openly you know?"

Jack Smite nods and replies, "I know, but we would prefer no trace to us, I am sure that you understand the need for confidentially?"

Hag Morgan replies, "Yes we do we can for fill this order. I would assume that you need this filling quickly?"

Jack Smite answers, "Yes we do in addition we will be keeping the freighter that is mentioned on the list."

Hag Morgan replies, "Whatever you wish" looks at his computer and says, "We can deliver these item within the next thirty days, to anywhere you wish within the galaxy. Payment will be 200 million credits."

Jack Smite nods and replies, "That is acceptable here are the coordinates the freighter is to rendezvous at." Handing another data stick to Hag Morgan, who looks at the coordinates (at the edge of the unknown regions) and replies, "Unusual, but acceptable. Is there anything else we can do for you?"

Jack Smite answers, "Yes there is, we will require additional items. I would assume that your Syndicate can supply them?"

Hag Morgan replies, "Of course, contact me if you need anything else?"

Jack Smite answers, "Thank you for your assistance. I will see the freighter at the rendezvous coordinates in thirty days time, with the payment of 200 million credits in uncut gemstones."

Hag Morgan replies, "That is acceptable, thank you for using our organization."

Jack Smite then shakes Hag Morgan hand then leaves with his three bodyguards in tow.

On hearing the news of the lucrative order, the Cull Syndicate makes Hag Morgan the sole contact with Jack Smite and agrees that as long as the money keeps coming, the Cull Syndicate will continue to supply this Jack Smite with whatever he wishes.

**Thirty Days Later**

Right on time the freighter with the supplies and equipment that had been specified arrives, Jack Smite after inspecting the freighters hold, hands over the 100 million credits in uncut gemstones to Hag Morgan.

After that, the Cull Syndicate crew leave the freighter in a second ship and head home.

From the Seeker, a small skeleton crew takes the freighter on a series of small jumps until they rendezvous with the Eleemosynary and then on to their base on the other side of the Unknown Regions.

The first deal with the Cull Syndicate is a success this will lead to additional deals, to acquire additional equipment of different types over the next few years.

Over the next few months and then years, Jack Smite will ask the Cull Syndicate for more equipment, which the Cull Syndicate is more than happy to steal for Jack Smite (for a considerable fee) and his associates.

Grand Admiral Teshik command is now starting to expand in size and capabilities.

Just then, the comm goes off breaking through Grand Admiral Teshik thoughts of what had been happening over the past few years, Teshik asks, "Yes, what is it?"

From the other end of the comm Captain Frisk replies, "Sir we are approaching Grand Admiral Thrawn's current estimated location."

Teshik replies, "I am on my way to the bridge" then switches of his comm and heads towards the bridge, thinking to himself that this will be one of the few time that Thrawn will be truly surprised.

A meeting between the last two Grand Admirals will be interesting, to put it mildly.

To be continued.


	4. Chapter 4

**4. Grand Admiral, Times Two!**

_"Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb." _Winston Churchill

At the height of the Empire, an Imperial Grand Admiral, was directly appointed by Emperor Palpatine, these twelve Grand Admirals only answered directly to Palpatine or his authorized executors (like Vader). In all matters, no one else had control over the twelve Grand Admirals even the Grand Moffs (except Tarkin up to his death or Lord Vader) are junior to the twelve Grand Admirals.

The creation of the rank of Grand Admiral happened two years prior to the Battle of Yavin was widely recognized as a means to increase the Emperor's direct control of the Imperial Military.

However, although all are exceptionally gifted Imperial officers, the Grand Admirals were not just front-line commanders, like Teshik and Thrawn to name two. Rather, they included several technical specialists and theoreticians, enabling them to serve as a leadership cadre for the Imperial military and indeed the whole Empire.

During the height of the reign of the Emperor, there were a maximum of twelve Grand Admirals in service at one time, called the Circle of Twelve by Palpatine. At the time of the Battle of Endor, marked by many as the beginning of the fall of Palpatine's Galactic Empire, the group included Martio Batch, Nial Declann, Octavian Grant, Josef Grunger, Ishin-Il-Raz, Afsheen Makati, Danetta Pitta, Peccati Syn, Miltin Takel, Osvald Teshik, Rufaan Tigellinus, and Thrawn.

Thrawn had been promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral, a few months before the Battle of Endor as a replacement for Demetrius Zaarin, who had attempted a coup against the Emperor and the Empire.

The first Grand Admiral to be appointed by Palpatine was Osvald Teshik and the last was Thrawn.

Now apparently now only two survive, Teshik and Thrawn, though the galaxy as a whole will know only of Thrawn's existence and not of Teshik.

**Chimaera**

Onboard the Chimaera Captain Pellaeon is just informing Grand Admiral Thrawn of the return of the scout ships from their data raid against the comprehensive archive computers of Obroa-skai.

Along with the subsequent Battle of Obroa-skai, in which the Chimaera dispatched four New Republic Assault Frigates and three wings of X-wing fighters, it had only taken Thrawn commanding a single star destroyer an hour to dispatch this force.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Obroa-skai, the Chimaera intelligence experts are sifting through the debris for any useful intelligence information on the New Republic attack forces warships and starfighters. This standard Imperial procedure to see if there is anything managed to survive the battle that maybe of use to Imperial Intelligence.

Within the next hour, another Imperial class star destroyer will be arriving at the battle site.

**Eleemosynary**

Sitting in his command chair on the bridge, Grand Admiral Teshik is preparing himself for his meeting with a fellow Grand Admiral.

Captain Frisk says, "Sir, we are about to come out of hyperspace."

Grand Admiral Teshik states, "All stations stand by for sudden orders, just in case."

The Eleemosynary drops out of hyperspace, the first thing to pop up on the main display is that of the Imperial II class star destroyer, Chimaera, followed by a debris field, with the indication of a recent battle.

Grand Admiral Teshik thinks to himself, he was right about Thrawn's location he had not lost his touch, thanks to the information from the Imperial military signals that his light freighters have been picking up. No one had thought to remove the Grand Admirals codes, as Imperial Command assumed that Teshik was dead, Teshik could therefore read all coded Imperial transmissions, even Thrawn's.

That was both a bad move and a good move, for the various Imperial factions, depending on your point of view!

**Chimaera**

In Thrawn's meditation chamber, Thrawn is discussing the location of one of the Emperors secret storehouses with Captain Pellaeon, when the comm goes off.

Thrawn flick the comm button and says, "This is Thrawn, what is it Lieutenant Tschel?"

From the other end of the comm Lieutenant Tschel replies, "Sir, sorry to bother you, another Imperial class star destroyer has just come out of hyperspace."

Thrawn frowns slightly and asks, "Can you identify the star destroyer."

There are several moments of silence then Lieutenant Tschel replies, "Sir, the star destroyer's IFF indicates that it is the Eleemosynary."

Captain Pellaeon jaw drops slightly then he asks, "This is Captain Pellaeon, are you sure about that identification Lieutenant Tschel?"

Lieutenant Tschel replies, "Yes sir, it has been double checked."

Thrawn says, "Intriguing the Eleemosynary is listed as being destroyed at Endor."

Captain Pellaeon says, "Yes sir, I saw the Eleemosynary destroyed myself."

Thrawn in a dreamy voice says, "Yet the Eleemosynary is here, the flagship of another Grand Admiral, how interesting, an intriguing puzzle."

Captain Pellaeon now frowning and slightly angry, says, "It must be some sort of Rebel trick, Admiral I suggest we go to battle stations?"

Thrawn raises his hand and says, "No, Captain, if this star destroyer was under the control of the Rebels it would have opened fire by now. Let us see what is going on." Activating the comm Thrawn says, "Lieutenant Tschel, hail that star destroyer."

Lieutenant Tschel replies, "Aye Admiral hailing now."

**Eleemosynary**

As the Eleemosynary exits hyperspace, Grand Admiral Teshik is pleased that his calculations on where Thrawn would be have proved to be correct. Grand Admiral Teshik is now studying the tactical display to see what the Chimaera and Grand Admiral Thrawn will do next.

From his Captains chair, Captain Frisk says, "Sir, I suggest we raise shields, just to be on the safe side."

Teshik shakes his head and replies, "If this is Thrawn and I have no doubt it is, then such an action would be the wrong one. Thrawn will make the first move, let us see wait and see what that move is, though I would suspect that Thrawn hail us first, before making his next move."

Before Captain Frisk can reply in protest, one of the communications operators says, "Sir, we are being hailed by the Chimaera."

Teshik smiles as Teshik has correctly predicted what Thrawn would do then he says, "Put it through."

The communications operator says, "Yes sir."

In front of Teshik the holographic image of Grand Admiral Thrawn appears sitting in a command chair, Teshik says, "Greetings Grand Admiral Thrawn, it is good to see that you are still alive."

Thrawn whose expression remains unchanged, replies, "Greetings Grand Admiral Teshik, I see that you have survived the battle of Endor."

Teshik says, "Indeed I did survive the battle of Endor. The story is an interesting one, if you would like to come onboard then I shall tell you how I survived Endor."

Thrawn says nothing for several moments, his red eyes focusing on Teshik, then replies, "I will be happy to come onboard the Eleemosynary, Grand Admiral Teshik."

Teshik smiles and nods saying, "I will see you shortly Grand Admiral Thrawn."

**Chimaera**

With the communication ended, Captain Pellaeon says, "Admiral, if I may say I consider it too risky you going over to the Eleemosynary."

Thrawn cuts of Pellaeon's protests with a wave of his hand, and replies, "Do not be concerned Captain, I will have a stormtrooper detachment with me and Rukh. Besides, I know Teshik from my time at the Imperial Court, this is Grand Admiral Teshik, take my word for it Captain, after all two Grand Admirals will be better than one."

The penny has just dropped on what Thrawn has just said, Captain Pellaeon says, "You mean that Teshik will join with you in the fight against the Rebels?"

Thrawn smiles ever so slightly and replies, "Yes, I got that much from him from our short chat. I also sent him the same message in return."

Again another penny has just dropped on what Thrawn has just said, Captain Pellaeon says, "When you agreed to go over to the Eleemosynary?"

Thrawn again smiles slightly and replies, "Correct Captain, now I must not keep Grand Admiral Teshik waiting. Captain you will remain behind." Captain Pellaeon is not happy about that but Thrawn is correct, you cannot leave the Chimaera without a senior Imperial officer in charge.

A few minutes later a Lambda-class shuttle along with an escort of 12 TIE Interceptors leave the Chimaera main hanger bay and heads towards the Eleemosynary.

As Thrawn's shuttle begins to land in the Eleemosynary main hanger, Thrawn notices the TIE racks filled with a mix of TIE Avengers and TIE Defenders, Thrawn thinks to himself that Teshik has a powerful and advanced fighter force available, wondering why he has not used it against the Rebels.

Then Thrawn thinks to himself, maybe Teshik has, but not overtly, thinking back to various unconfirmed Imperial Intelligence reports of a lone Imperial class star destroyer hitting various Rebel outposts over the past few years. Then he remembers the intelligence reports that there were no survivors from each attack, it had been thought to be one of the various Imperial factions, but now Thrawn knows that it was most likely Teshik.

As Thrawn's shuttle comes into land, Thrawn can see Teshik waiting for him with a small detachment of Naval Troopers and Stormtroopers as an honour guard.

**Eleemosynary, Main Hanger Bay**

Waiting in the Eleemosynary main hanger bay, Grand Admiral Teshik is waiting to greet Thrawn with a small honour guard of Naval Troopers and Stormtroopers.

As Thrawn descends the shuttles ramp, followed closely by Rukh, as they face each other, Teshik is the first to speak, saying, "Welcome onboard the Eleemosynary Grand Admiral Thrawn."

Thrawn replies, "Thank you for the welcome, Grand Admiral Teshik."

Teshik then looks at Rukh, raises his hand, and says, "Welcome onboard the Eleemosynary."

Rukh hesitates only slightly then sniffs Teshik upraised palm and replies in a deep voice, "Thank you milord" then returns to Thrawn's side.

Teshik looks at Thrawn and says, "Vader once took me to the Noghri home world, where Vader introduced me to the Noghri. I recognize your bodyguard from that time."

Thrawn nods and says, "Interesting, a good way of proving your identity."

Teshik replies, "Yes, I thought that would save a lot of explanations."

Thrawn says, "Indeed it does, Grand Admiral Teshik."

Teshik says, "Shall we go, I have a room prepared."

Thrawn says, "Yes" then pausing for a moment and looking at Rukh, "You will keep the knowledge of Teshik return to yourself, even from your fellow Noghri, is that understood?"

Rukh bows and replies, "Yes my lord."

**Teshik Private Quarters**

With Rukh outside, guarding the entrance, Teshik informs Thrawn of how he was able to survive that battle of Endor, along with some of the Emperors projects that he has managed to rescue and transfer to Sanctuary Base in the Unknown Regions (though not all of them). Teshik does not inform Thrawn of the exact location of Sanctuary Base and Thrawn does not ask such questions between Grand Admirals are unnecessary.

Teshik also leaves out the various deals he has made indirectly with the Cull Syndicate.

After Teshik has finished his story Thrawn says, "You have quite an adventure. I see from the fighters you have in your hanger bay that you have access to both TIE Avengers and TIE Defenders."

Teshik nods slightly and replies, "Yes I managed to retrieve several projects like these. The Emperor prior to Endor planed me in charge of these projects most of them are the remnants of Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin various TIE research projects."

Thrawn nods thoughtfully and then says, "I assume that includes a full production facility as well as the research facilities?"

Teshik replies, "Yes it does"

Thrawn says, "From what I know of these designs, I would assume that the TIE Avengers are being produced in much greater quantities than the TIE Defenders?"

With a neutral tone, Teshik replies, "Again you are correct."

Thrawn eyes narrow when looking at Teshik Thrawn then says, "I see no point in this 'dance', shall we join forces to defeat the Rebels?"

Teshik smiles at Thrawn's question and replies, "It did not take you very long to ask that question, the answer is yes."

Thrawn says, "So it was a simple test, interesting. The next question is as you are superior in rank in the order of precedence within the Grand Admirals to me do you want to take the lead?"

Teshik replies, "No, you will remain in command as you already have a plan I see no point in changing commanders. I will supply both TIE Avengers and TIE Defenders to the campaign I will also assist in various attacks as needed, but I will keep in the background during the campaign. I will rename my star destroyer to the Invincible II. This will save many questions about how I returned from the dead. Even so a few selected senior Imperial military officers within your command will need to be told out of necessity."

After thinking for few moments on what Teshik has just said, Thrawn says, "I agree, that is the best plan, keeping the knowledge of your return a secret would be a useful 'ace' to have in reserve."

Teshik replies, "Agreed, how we need to get down to details."

Over the next few hours, Teshik and Thrawn discuss the alliance, between the two of them along with what each of them will do during the upcoming campaign. Once this has been settled Teshik departs for Sanctuary Base to inform the rest of his command of the alliance between the last two Grand Admirals.

On one final point, Thrawn makes the Invincible II the designated back up command ship, just as the Chimaera was back up command ship at the battle of Endor, this will allow Teshik to issue command orders to Thrawn's forces without the need to go through the Chimaera to Thrawn. Thrawn is putting his faith in Teshik by doing this Thrawn's faith will be fully justified in the months to come.

While Teshik is at Sanctuary Base, Thrawn is already beginning his formal campaign against the Rebels.

**Thrawn's Campaign**

The Thrawn campaign would be a series of innovative military and political manoeuvres. Thrawn's attacks, feigns and policies constituted the first major internal and external conflict for the New Republic, and nearly succeeded in toppling the fledgling government.

A shaky alliance between Thrawn and the mad Dark Jedi clone Joruus C'baoth is useful, however as the months passed, the alliance between the two of them becomes strained, especially after the revelation the another Grand Admiral is alive, Teshik. This does not go down very well with Joruus C'baoth, even so Joruus C'baoth still 'works' for Thrawn.

Teshik, on one occasion proves that he is more than a match for Joruus C'baoth, after all he had witnessed the power of the Emperor on several occasions and Joruus C'baoth did not come close to the Emperor in the power of Dark Side of the force.

**The Joruus C'baoth, Incident**

Twelve months into Thrawn's campaign both Thrawn and Teshik, along with Joruus C'baoth and Captain Pellaeon, are onboard the Chimaera, in Thrawn's command chamber. Joruus C'baoth was making his usual threats against both Thrawn and Teshik, when Teshik in a voice with considerable command behind it says, "Enough, Joruus C'baoth you do not control me in any way."

Joruus C'baoth is slightly stunned that he has been interrupted replies, "Believe what you will, Teshik."

Teshik with enough menace in his voice that makes it seem as though the rooms temperature has dropped by several degrees, replies, "I am Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik, do not threaten an Imperial Grand Admiral so lightly, be warned Joruus C'baoth do not oppose me." Then suddenly Teshik takes a single menacing step forward, causing Joruus C'baoth to involuntary take a step back, much to the surprise of Captain Pellaeon but not Thrawn.

Joruus C'baoth realising what Teshik has just done to him, looks at Teshik in amazement, then Teshik in a claim but commanding voice states, "I trust, I do not have to make my point again Joruus C'baoth?"

Joruus C'baoth in reply, just slightly shakes his head, again without realising what he is doing until he has done it. Then Teshik turns slightly to Thrawn and in a normal voice as if nothing had just occurred asks, "Are we done here?"

Thrawn also as if nothing has happened, in a claim voice replies, "We are done, thank you."

Teshik nods to Thrawn then leaves the room accompanied by two stormtroopers carrying frames containing Ysalamiri, without acknowledging Joruus C'baoth presence, leaving behind a stunned Captain Pellaeon and Joruus C'baoth.

After Joruus C'baoth has returned to his quarters to meditate, Thrawn says to Captain Pellaeon, "To answer your question, yes I can do that to if needed. Remember this Captain each Grand Admiral was chosen by the Emperor himself, what Teshik just did was a small demonstration of what a Grand Admiral is capable of." All Captain Pellaeon is nod in acknowledgment, Pellaeon is both amazed and afraid after Teshik 'demonstration'.

A short while later Captain Pellaeon realises that Thrawn has been playing with Joruus C'baoth and could easily remove the mad Jedi if needed that thought makes Captain Pellaeon slightly nervous of both Grand Admirals.

After that when Teshik is onboard the Chimaera, Joruus C'baoth is never present in the same room, thankfully for Joruus C'baoth Teshik visits to the Chimaera are few.

**Eighteen Months Later**

Thrawn's campaign over the next eighteen months is nothing if not spectacular. However, Teshik is not to be underestimated either.

In the early stages of his campaign, after his meeting with Teshik, Thrawn travelled to Wayland, where he acquired three items from Mount Tantiss, an Imperial storehouse. These items were a cloaking device, a mad Jedi clone named Joruus C'baoth, and a "trivial piece of technology", a full suite of Spaarti cloning cylinders.

Joruus C'baoth was the clone of the Jedi Mater Jorus C'baoth, who perished in Thrawn's destruction of Outbound Flight. In exchange for fighting for Thrawn, this mad Jedi demanded that Thrawn capture the unborn Solo twins so that he could raise them as his apprentices.

Thrawn used the Spaarti cylinders to clone elite troops by the tens of thousands, bolstering the conscripts on which the Empire was now forced to depend for much of its manpower, in the long term Thrawn hopped to replace the conscripts with clones. At the same time, both Thrawn and Teshik worked to replace the losses in materiel that the military had suffered in the years since Endor. Although Thrawn was thwarted in his attempt to capture a large number of New Republic ships from Sluis Van, Thrawn's leadership would see the Empire's own shipyards (that are now under Thrawn's direct control) increase production once again, and Thrawn was able to recover 178 of the 200 Dreadnaught class cruisers of the Katana fleet.

Thrawn now directly controls a total of fifteen sectors.

Added to Thrawn's fleet is a growing number of TIE Avengers from Grand Admiral Teshik Sanctuary Base, these TIE Avengers are deployed in a single squadron strength onboard each of Thrawn's Imperial class star destroyers. With Teshik's own star destroyer still carrying a mixed wing of 36 TIE Avengers along with 36 TIE Defenders.

Both Grand Admirals know it will take time to build up sufficient numbers of these advanced TIE starfighters, however even a single squadron onboard each of Thrawn's Imperial class star destroyers, flown by elite clone and none clone pilots can prove to be devastating to the New Republics fighters forces.

Thrawn used his tactical skills to effectively employ his limited forces in a series of decisive victories, causing a deep wound to the New Republics military forces. The successes of Thrawn's campaign greatly bolstered the waning Imperial morale and temporarily ceased the internal squabbling of the various Imperial warlords as they watched Thrawn's unfolding campaign, a problem that had plagued the Empire since the death of Palpatine. Using the cloaking technology that Thrawn had acquired to good effect, Thrawn also managed to blockade Coruscant with cloaked asteroids and scored victory after victory.

During this time Grand Admiral Teshik kept himself in the background, leaving the running of the war to Thrawn, Teshik would use this time to rebuild his own command squadron, by addition four Victory II class star destroyers. Theses Victory II class star destroyers are crewed almost entirely by clones, with each VSDII containing two squadrons of TIE Avengers (24 fighters). During this time, Teshik mostly occupied himself with increasing production of the TIE Avengers and seeing that they are secretly transported from Sanctuary Base back to the Empire. With a secondary role of assisting Thrawn in his campaign, Teshik does not need to do this secondary role very much as Thrawn is proving more than capable of deal with the Rebels by himself.

Acknowledging the potential for his defeat, Thrawn sent a single Spaarti cloning cylinder to his facility on Nirauan to produce a single, un-accelerated clone of himself, Thrawn did not tell anyone about what he had done (that would be a bad move on Thrawn's part). Likewise, Teshik also acquired a Spaarti cloning cylinder for himself but for slightly different reasons, this Spaarti cloning cylinder was put onboard the Eleemosynary in what was the Admirals entertainment suite. Like Thrawn, Teshik surrounded the Spaarti cloning cylinder with the force repelling Ysalamiri creatures, along with key areas around his star destroyer, such as the main bridge, engineering etc.

At the end of the eighteen months, Thrawn's Empire was starting to take shape, with key production facilities under Thrawn's direct control, such as the Bilbringi system with its vast shipbuilding capability. These resources are relatively small, even compared to the combined resources of the various Imperial Warlords, however unlike the various Imperial Warlords, these resources are focused on one goal, defeating the Rebels and gaining ground.

Given another few months, Thrawn would have most likely been able to retake the Imperial Centre (Coruscant), along with most of the key Core Sectors, then Thrawn's campaign would then have then shifted up a gear.

The galaxy is still unaware the Grand Admiral Teshik is still alive, as the galaxy has been concentrated on Thrawn.

However, things were about to change for both Thrawn and Teshik, during the upcoming Battle of Bilbringi.

To be continued.


	5. Chapter 5

**5. Battle of Bilbringi**

_"Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter, the statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events." _Winston Churchill

As Grand Admiral Thrawn's fleet arrives at Bilbringi to prepare to set a trap for the Rebels, Thrawn instructs his Interdictor cruisers and Interdictor star destroyers to activate their gravity well projectors in anticipation of the imminent Rebel attack, as accurately predicted by Thrawn.

The New Republic assault fleet is pulled out of hyperspace by the interdictor cruisers outside the Bilbringi perimeter.

On the bridge of his flagship New Hope, Admiral Ackbar quickly realized that his fleet had come out of hyperspace too early, and too far out from the Imperial Shipyards. In the distance, a large Imperial fleet is arrayed before the New Republic warships. With several Interdictors being, strategically positioned to prevent any escape.

At once, Admiral Ackbar recognized the trap, Ackbar thinks to himself, Endor all over again, but this time with a Grand Admiral in charge, not good. Admiral Ackbar quickly issues orders to his fleet to adopt defensive positions and for all his startfighters to engage the enemy starfighters.

The Battle of Bilbringi has now begun.

Grand Admiral Thrawn ordered the Interdictor Cruisers Constrainer and Sentinel that were the furthest from the main fleet, to secure from entrapment duty and return to the demarcation line, where they would be better protected. This would become the battles weak point. Then, Grand Admiral Thrawn instructed all Imperial warships to engage the enemy fleet, as per his plan.

The Imperial fleet is arrayed in a bowl-shaped formation with the Interdictors forming the outer ring. As the battle began, the Imperial forces hammer the New Republic warships, which are caught in the confusion, are hastily assembled into a loose battle formation, by Admiral Ackbar.

For much of the early part of the battle, the fight was going clearly in favour of the Imperial fleet.

Unfortunately, for the Empire, the ships of the Smuggler's Alliance was present at Bilbringi, and decided to aid the New Republic fleet by directly attacking the Imperial Shipyards with the help of Rogue Squadron and some New Republic ships. The four Imperial Golan II platforms that protected the shipyards were unable to hold back the swift attack from their rear and the Imperial defensive line is breached.

This tactical change forced the Imperial fleet to divert some of its warships and starfighters to protect the shipyards. Thrawn's second-in-command, Captain Gilad Pellaeon, was dismayed by the sudden change of fortunes, but the Grand Admiral reminded him that the battle was far from over. To regain the initiative for the Imperial fleet, Thrawn planned to execute a tactical manoeuvre, dubbed the "Thrawn Pincer", which would use the Interdictors to bring in more Imperial class star destroyers and other warships directly behind the Rebel fleet.

Despite Grand Admiral Thrawn's genius and before he could initiate the manoeuvre, the Imperial fleet was defeated when Thrawn's bodyguard, a Noghri named Rukh, assassinated him aboard the bridge of the Chimaera at the height of the battle. As Captain Pellaeon read aloud an incoming report from Wayland that indicated that Thrawn's cloning facility was under attack, Rukh temporarily incapacitated the Captain by hitting him on the neck. Rukh then stabbed his long assassin's knife into the back of the Grand Admiral's command chair, pinning and killing the Grand Admiral.

Then Rukh fled Thrawn's command chamber, he would be killed shortly afterwards trying to get off the Chimaera, Rukh would take the existence of another Grand Admiral to the grave, as Rukh had told no one that Teshik is alive.

**Thrawn's Command Chamber**

In Thrawn's command chamber, Captain Pellaeon had just triggered chamber an alarm, this would summon both Stormtroopers and medics to Thrawn's command chamber. As the wailing of the alarm cuts through the noise of the Chimaera at battle, Pellaeon finally manages to turn his head towards Thrawn.

Thrawn is sitting upright in his chair, his face strangely calm. In the middle of his chest, a dark red stain was spreading across the spotless white of his Grand Admiral's uniform. Glittering in the centre of the stain was the tip of Rukh's, assassin's knife.

Thrawn caught his eye and to Pellaeon's astonishment, the Grand Admiral smiled, Thrawn whispers, "But it was so artistically done."

Thrawn falls silent, the glow of his red eyes slowly but steadily fading, a few seconds' later Thrawn stops breathing.

A few second after Thrawn had stopped breathing, a squad of stormtroopers bursts into Thrawn's room rifles at the ready, followed a few seconds later by a medic team.

One of the medics pauses for a moment next to Captain Pellaeon and asks "Captain, are you injured?", Pellaeon in reply just shakes his head and points to Thrawn, indicating to concentrate on the Grand Admiral, to whom the other medics are already starting to attend to.

The communications officer calls urgently from the bridge, as the medical team arrives. "Captain Pellaeon? The Nemesis and Stormhawk are requesting orders. What shall I tell them?"

Pellaeon looked at the tactical display, at the chaos that had erupted behind the defences of the supposedly secure shipyards, the unexpected need to split his forces to its defence the Rebel fleet taking full advantage of the diversion. In the blink of an eye, the universe had suddenly turned against them.

The main Imperial base in the Bilbringi system was protected well enough and could hold out, Pellaeon thought, Thrawn could still have pulled an Imperial victory out of it. However, Pellaeon was not Thrawn, Pellaeon glanced at Thrawn, was now mostly hidden by the medics working on him dead or alive Thrawn would not be making any decisions right now.

Realizing that he cannot bring victory to this battle but there is another Grand Admiral, who could. Pellaeon says, "Communications send a coded signal to the Invincible II, code Oskar Tango, the frequency and associated codes are in the computer. Then send a signal to all ships to hold their current positions, fresh orders to follow." The Oskar Tango is the code to communicate directly with Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik in an emergency.

The communication operator replies, "Air sir, sending now."

**Eleemosynary (also known as the Invincible II)**

The star destroyer Eleemosynary along with her newly formed squadron of four Victory II class star destroyers are waiting on the news of Thrawn's victory at Bilbringi. The Eleemosynary is a few light years distance from Bilbringi, Teshik was quite happy for Thrawn to win this battle, as Teshik was happy to remain hidden, just as the two of them had discussed eighteen months ago.

Teshik has been reviewing the resources that are now becoming available to him these include a fully operational production facility on Sanctuary Base to mass produce both the TIE Defender and the TIE Avenger, with the TIE Avenger coming of the new production line much more quickly than the TIE Defender. However, that was to be expected, as the TIE Defender is a much more complicated fighter to mass-produce.

The Eleemosynary own fighter wing consists of 36 TIE Defenders and 36 TIE Avengers, the four Victory II class star destroyers are each equipped with two squadron of TIE Avengers (24 fighters). The crews of the four Victory II class star destroyers are ninety percent clones, with clone production well underway, the Empires manpower problems has been ended.

However, Teshik will soon find out about the loss of Wayland and the death of Thrawn.

Grand Admiral Teshik was waiting for news of Thrawn's victory, when a communications operators says, "Admiral, I am receiving the emergency code, Oskar Tango."

Teshik frowns slightly and says, "Put it through."

In front of Teshik, the image of Captain Pellaeon appears, his voice is rough and he has a red mark on his neck, Pellaeon says, "Admiral, bad news I am afraid, Grand Admiral Thrawn has been attacked by his own bodyguard." Then pausing for a few moments Pellaeon continues, "The battle does not go well, I request your assistance, Sir."

Teshik felt a cold fury inside of him, but he suppressed it, now was not this time for that, Teshik replies, "I am on my way, maintain defensive pattern Kilo seven." Then looking at the tactical feed coming in at the same time, Teshik says, "I will deal with the attack on the Golan II platforms when I arrive, until then you concentrate on the bulk of the Rebel fleet. Once I arrive I will give you more detailed instructions, also have the reserve forces on standby to enter the Bilbringi system, to complete the trap."

Pellaeon replies, "Understood Admiral." With that, the communication is ended, Pellaeon now feels slightly better, as all he has to do is hold out for a short while, he can do that. After all, he may not be a Grand Admiral, but he can dam well fight a holding action, after all, he has been doing that for the five years up to the return of Thrawn and Teshik.

A few moments later the Eleemosynary and her four accompanying Victory II class star destroyers, jumped into hyperspace towards the Bilbringi system.

**Chimaera, Main Bridge**

After finishing talking with Teshik, Pellaeon had assumed command from the main bridge not Thrawn's command chamber. Pellaeon had told the bridge crew that the medics were working on Thrawn at the moment and that Teshik was on his way, most of the bridge crew had guessed that Teshik was the frequent visitor with Thrawn. Due to their loyalty to Thrawn they had kept this information to themselves.

Captain Pellaeon looked out of the main bridges windows he could see the battle going on between the two fleets he could also see the Chimaera main guns beginning to engage a Rebel frigate.

Looking back at the main bridges tactical display he could see an overview of that battle with the smaller and faster moving dots being starfighters, the blue dots represented Imperial and the red dots the Rebel starfighters, occasionally either a blue or a red dot would disappear, this indicated a kill.

However, he did not have time for sightseeing he had a battle to run until Teshik arrived to take command.

Walking back to his command chair, Captain Pellaeon says, "Communications begin sending defensive orders, to the following groups" then Captain Pellaeon begins to type out orders for the communications operators to send out.

From the communications pit the replies is an "Aye Sir"

Captain Pellaeon thinks to himself, now to hold on long enough until Teshik arrives...

**Ten Minutes Later...**

Admiral Ackbar was now slightly happier than he had been at the beginning of the battle, with the attack by the Smuggler's Alliance against the Golan II platforms, had eased the pressure against the New Republics fleet however the battle was far from won.

The Imperial fleet is rapidly reorganising itself to deal with this new threat.

Several of the Admiral Ackbar's capital warships had suffered heavy damage during the initial stages of the battle this was not good. The Imperial forces were intact with little or no damage, apart from the damaged Golan II platforms.

One of the sensor operators on the bridge says, "Admiral, I have Imperial warships coming out of hyperspace in sector nine."

Admiral Ackbar looks at the main tactical display, showing a single Imperial class star destroyer along with four Victory class star destroyers. These five warships have come out of hyperspace right on top of the battered Golan II platforms, using the interdictors GWP to pull the star destroyers out of hyperspace at the right moment.

Admiral Ackbar was now much more worried again the battle had shifted again.

**Invincible II**

After exiting hyperspace, the Eleemosynary and her four Victory class star destroyers, immediately begins to deploy there advanced starfighters.

As the TIE fighters are being deployed Teshik says, "Communications, have our TIE Defenders protect those Golan II platforms, the TIE Avengers are to remain in close defence of my command squadron."

The communications operator replies, "Aye Admiral" then sends the instructions to the fighters.

With the arrive of these five star destroyers, the battle has changed again, with the Smuggler's Alliances forces are now in real danger of being wiped out, as there converted freighters and other ships are no match for five star destroyers and fourteen squadrons of advanced TIE fighters.

At the same time, Teshik begins to start relaying instructions to Captain Pellaeon on what Captain Pellaeon needs to do next, as the warships under Thrawn's command will only obey instruction received from the Chimaera. Teshik is also taking into account the delay in the relaying of his instruction via Captain Pellaeon Teshik has not felt so alive in a long time.

This delay is still causing problems for the Imperial forces, though it is not a major problem, for the moment that is.

**Chimaera**

With the arrival of the Eleemosynary and her four Victory class star destroyers, the attack against the Golan II platforms has swung back towards the Empire the Imperials "rear" now appears to be getting secured again.

Captain Pellaeon has been for the past few minutes coordinating the battle, although his tactics are not brilliant, they are sound. The Imperial forces are continuing to fight the Rebel fleet and are even making some headway against the Rebels.

Now that Teshik has assumed command, Captain Pellaeon will relay Teshik orders to the rest of the fleet, as it would take too long to explain about Teshik, it is much simpler for Captain Pellaeon to relay Teshik orders.

Captain Pellaeon now feels that this battle is winnable again.

The other bit of news that Captain Pellaeon relayed to Grand Admiral Teshik is that the medics have confirmed that Thrawn is dead.

**Home One**

Admiral Ackbar is not very happy, the arrival of these five star destroyers have swung the battle back in favour of the Imperial fleet, even though this is a very small advantage for the Imperials.

From the communications pit an operators says, "Admiral, a signal from the Smuggler's Alliance. They say that they cannot hold out very long against five star destroyers and several squadrons of advanced imperial starfighters."

Admiral Ackbar looks at the main display at the fight going on near the battle stations then says, "Have them withdraw from the battle as soon as they are able and add a thank you from me."

The communications operator says, "Aye Admiral, sending now."

Admiral Ackbar watches as the ships of the Smuggler's Alliance begin to break of their engagement and jump into hyperspace once clear of the GWP carrying interdictors this is much easier as the interdictor cruiser GWPs are directed at the Rebel warships and not at the Golan II platforms.

Admiral Ackbar then says, "Communications, have our warships form up into formation Zebra four, with all available starfighters forming a defensive sphere around our capital ships as best as they can. It is time to leave, this battle is not winnable."

The communications operator says, "Aye Admiral, sending orders now."

Admiral Ackbar watches as the New Republic fleet begins to re-orientate itself, Admiral Ackbar plans to leave this battle as soon as the flee has regrouped, Thrawn has pulled of a masterpiece of strategy, this battle is not winnable. Admiral Ackbar also takes note of the Imperial class star destroyer leading the attack forces protecting the battered Golan II platforms, the Invincible II and wonders who is commanding that Imperial squadron?

This star destroyer and its small escort force is performing well Admiral Ackbar assumes that is because it has a good commander and most likely a clone crew. Admiral Ackbar is partially right, though no one in the New Republic fleet yet knows that there is another Grand Admiral still alive or even that Thrawn has been killed.

**Eleemosynary**

Teshik watches as the last of the remaining Smuggler's Alliance ships jumps into hyperspace, Teshik had let them go, as they were out of the battle that mattered more than pursuing them. The next problem is to eliminate the Rebel fleet, looking at the main display Teshik says, "Have our TIE Defenders return to rearm and refuel."

The communications operator says, "Aye Admiral, sending orders now." The 36 TIE Defenders swing around and head back to the Eleemosynary hanger bay to rearm and refuel, as they had seen the heaviest combat and had used up most of their torpedoes attacking the Smuggler's Alliance ships.

Still looking at the main display Teshik sees that the main point of vulnerability are the two-interdictor cruisers, Constrainer and Sentinel. There is also the need to execute Thrawn's plan to bring in the second wave of warships, to execute what would become known as the "Thrawn pincer."

Teshik says, "Helm, have my command squadron set a course for the Constrainer and Sentinel, we need to provide support, communications have out supporting star destroyers follow us." From the helm and communications pits is a pair of "aye sir", then Teshik command squadron begins to move towards the two-interdictor cruisers, it will take several minutes for the Eleemosynary and her four supporting star destroyers to get into position to provide support for the Constrainer and Sentinel.

Teshik then says, "Communications get me Captain Pellaeon."

A few moments later, the holographic image appears in front of Teshik, Teshik says, "Captain Pellaeon, it is now time to finish this, innate the closing of the trap according to Thrawn's plan."

Captain Pellaeon smiles slightly and replies, "Aye sir, sending the order now."

The Thrawn Pincer is a space warfare tactic developed by Grand Admiral Thrawn. It is based on the Interdictor tactics brilliantly employed by the Grand Admiral to bring reinforcements into his attack on Coruscant and in other battles, including the Battle of Bilbringi.

It starts with a main task force being divided into two. The first group would drop into an enemy system and engage the enemy fleet while the second would jump into a nearby system. When the Imperial fleet activates its gravity well projectors, the commander would then order the second fleet to make a micro-jump through hyperspace, usually behind the enemy fleet using the GWP to the pull the imperial warships out at the right points.

The Rebels were about to be very surprised.

**Home One**

Admiral Ackbar is now very worried, as he can see that the five star destroyers are re-orientating themselves to move towards the weak point, however so is the New Republic fleet, it is now a race to see who can reach the two interdictors first. The New Republic fleet is at a disadvantage as it can only move as fast as its slowest ship. The Imperials have no such problems is such a battle as they are not the ones who are trying to get away.

As the New Republic Fleet is moving towards the two interdictors a sensor operator says, "Admiral I have a second wave of Imperial warships dropping out of hyperspace."

Admiral Ackbar swings around in his chair to look out of the main bridge window, even at the distance Admiral Ackbar can see the last of the Imperial warships dropping out of hyperspace. Admiral Ackbar thinks to himself, that Thrawn is using the interdictors to pull the Imperial warships out of hyperspace at the right moment and at the right place, very clever.

Admiral Ackbar has now no choice on what to do next, he must preserve the bulk of his fleet, Admiral Ackbar says, "Communications issue an order to all ships are to retreat a flank speed toward exit point Alpha, concentrate all fire when in range on those two interdictor cruisers."

The communications operator says, "Aye Admiral, sending orders now."

A few moments later the New Republic fleet, under intense fire from the newly arrived Imperial warships, as the New Republic fleet heads towards the two-interdictor cruisers, the interdictor cruiser captains can see what is coming towards them (they can't really miss it). They have insufficient warship protection, this leaves the captains with two choices, one be destroyed or two transfer power from the cruisers GWPs to the ships engines and shields and get out of the way of the New Republic fleet.

The two captains choose survival over destruction and transfer power from the cruisers GWPs to the ships engines and shields. Once the GWPs have been powered down, there is nothing to stop the New Republic fleet from jumping into hyperspace.

A few moments later the New Republic fleet begins to rapidly, jump into hyperspace, leaving the Imperial fleet behind, Admiral Ackbar has managed to save most of the fleet (about ninety percent), even though many of the New Republic warships have been damaged to various degrees, as least they have not been captured or destroyed.

The delay between Thrawn's death and Teshik arriving and assuming command was vital in allowing Admiral Ackbar's fleet to escape, otherwise Admiral Ackbar's fleet would have been wiped out and the New Republic would be in a far worse position than it is in now.

Behind them, the Imperials are taking stock of the Battle of Bilbringi, especially Grand Admiral Teshik, who had hoped to remain in the background, this would now have to change or maybe not.

Teshik already has a plan forming on what to do next.

**Grand Admiral Teshik, Assuming Command**

This first order of business was to summon Thrawn's senior commanders to Bilbringi, to see if they would follow Teshik. This was easier than Teshik expected, as they all would follow Teshik just as they had followed Thrawn, they also agreed to keep the secret that Teshik was alive, as this would be a useful weapon against the New Republic and their fellow Imperials.

With Thrawn's former forces under his control and Vice Admiral Pellaeon acting as Teshik "front man", Teshik would be free to begin rebuilding and expanding Thrawn's former fleet.

General Drost the commander and governor of the Bilbringi was one of the first too fully support Teshik as his new commander. General Drost will have a busy time since the battle in his system with a large number of warships that need to be repaired this has put the work on the twenty new Imperial II class star destroyers on hold. In addition, Teshik has ordered that all old Victory I class star destroyers be upgraded to Victory II standard, as the Victory I class star destroyer is of limited value in space combat.

General Drost is reviewing security at the Bilbringi shipyards as this is the second time he has been caught by the Rebels, General Drost does not want this to happen a third time.

Over the next month, Teshik through Vice Admiral Pellaeon will consolidate Thrawn's holdings (at total of fifteen sectors) in addition Teshik will start an improvement program for Imperial warship production. This will have a long-term goal of rebuilding the Imperial fleet this is much more difficult due to the loss of the cloning facilities.

Teshik is not willing to reveal to anyone outside of his own crew that he has a single cloning cylinder onboard the Eleemosynary, which is in the process of producing a stable clone of him.

The New Republic is also taking stock after the Battle of Bilbringi.

**New Republic, post Bilbringi**

A week after Bilbringi Admiral Ackbar is briefing the New Republic council on the state of the Empire and the New Republics military capabilities. Admiral Ackbar sees the Battle of Bilbringi as a lost battle as he did not succeed in capturing this major Imperial shipyard, though the New Republic council sees it as an Imperial trap that Admiral Ackbar managed to escape from with a large part of the New Republics fleet.

The New Republic council sees the Battle of Bilbringi as a victory Admiral Ackbar sees it as a defeat.

With the news of the death of Thrawn, will cause great relief within the New Republic, however the news that the forces under Thrawn's command are now being run by his deputy a certain Vice Admiral Pellaeon. This will case great concern, within a few months the New Republic will be in a fight for its very survival.

Admiral Ackbar states that, "None of you need to be reminded that in the past few weeks our war against the remnants of the Empire has changed from what was once called a mopping-up exercise to a battle for our very survival."

Admiral Ackbar goes onto say, "The New Republics military forces sustained considerable losses during the Thrawn campaign with ten percent of our forces being killed, thirty percent wounded but those are just averages. On the worlds Thrawn actually hit, the devastation was much more significant. The Battle of Bilbringi is a case in point, even with Thrawn's death his deputy, Vice Admiral Pellaeon was able to run the battle and force our withdrawal from Bilbringi."

Around the council chamber, there is a mummer of worried voices, all now wonder how long the New Republic has before either, Admiral Pellaeon forces or one of the other Imperial factions attacks them.

With the shipyards at Bilbringi still firmly under Vice Admiral Pellaeon's control along with other key systems such as Bespin and Ukio along with various other holdings. This gives Vice Admiral Pellaeon relatively stable and powerful power base available to him, to repair and replace those warships and fighters that had been either damaged or lost during the recent Battle of Bilbringi.

In reality, the forces under Vice Admiral Pellaeon are under the command of Grand Admiral Teshik, with Teshik using Pellaeon as his front man, with only a few senior Imperial commanders knowing who is really in charge. The rest are happy to follow Pellaeon as the main senior Imperial commanders are following Pellaeon, they also do not want to become part of one of the many Imperial Warlords fiefdoms run by the various Moffs and other Imperial officials.

The Battle of Bilbringi marked the conclusion of the Thrawn campaign. It also marked the beginning of the Teshik campaign. The Teshik campaign would be far more deadly than Thrawn's over the long term, especially after Teshik's clone has reached maturity.

The New Republic would use this lull in the Empire to remove several of the smaller Imperial Warlords, starting with Prince-Admiral Delak Krennel who controls the Ciutric Hegemony. The New Republic would quickly eliminate Prince-Admiral Krennel and liberate the Ciutric Hegemony, from his rule.

During these attacks by the Executor class star dreadnaught Lusankya, under the command of General Wedge Antilles, who is in command of a small battle fleet of warships tasked with dealing with the smaller Imperial Warlords. The Lusankya is the former command ship of Ysanne Isard, that was captured by the New Republic and repaired and is now General Antilles flagship. The New Republic has a second Executor class star dreadnaught the Guardian, this ship is still undergoing extensive repairs and will not be ready for several years yet.

Thrawn maybe dead, but the various Imperial Warlords have been impressed by what Thrawn has been able to achieve with so little and in such a short period of time.

Over the next year, Grand Admiral Teshik would be content to watch and not get involved, with the events that would happen. Instead, Teshik would concentrate on consolidation and internal growth within those sectors that Thrawn had controlled.

With the resources within these sectors Teshik (through Vice Admiral Pellaeon) would make Teshik one of the largest of the Imperial factions remaining, Teshik command was almost equal in size to the Pentastar Alignment.

To be continued.


	6. Chapter 6

**6. Imperial Civil War and Emperors Return**

_"One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half." _Winston Churchill

A month after the Battle of Bilbringi, Grand Admiral Teshik was reviewing the forces he possessed under his command, formally part of Thrawn's command.

Vice Admiral Pellaeon will continue to act as a figurehead "supreme commander" of Thrawn's former fleet and the sectors that formed part of Thrawn's growing command up to Thrawn's death, this is until Grand Admiral Teshik is ready to reveal himself to the galaxy as a whole. In the past month, Admiral Pellaeon has survived several assignation attempts against him from various sources including several of the Imperial Warlords and the New Republic. Teshik has also instructed Pellaeon on the response to each attack, usually a limited counter attack against another a New Republic base or a base of one of the Imperial Warlords. This response has led to a dropping off, of attacks against Admiral Pellaeon and the sectors under his "command", as no one expected such a response from Pellaeon.

The forces under Grand Admiral Teshik command are not vast, but they are still growing, during the past thirty days, Teshik has begun a process of consolidation for not only his military forces but also the sectors that his forces now control. This is to ensure that neither the Rebels nor the various Imperial Warlords try to seize the sectors under his command the Imperial Warlords are not a threat to Teshik as they have other plans.

The number of sectors under Grand Admiral Teshik command is currently fifteen, with eleven of these sectors grouped together, with remaining four separated from the main group of sectors. These set of four sectors are relatively secure for the short term, in the longer term Teshik will have to improve these sectors defences.

Even through Grand Admiral Teshik controls fifteen sectors, his forces are not equivalent to fifteen sector sectors groups, his forces only currently equate to nine full sector groups. With the most vital systems (such as Bespin, Ukio and Bilbringi) in each sector being heavily defended, the rest of the sectors systems are protected by light system patrols supported by random roving patrols in each sector. These roving patrols have at least one Imperial class star destroyer along with a dozen other warships of various types, this makes it very difficult for an attacker to guess were these roving patrols are along with their composition.

Warships production, with the loss of the cloning facilities, Grand Admiral Teshik has had to scale back production of crew intensive warships, such as the Imperial class star destroyer and concentrate on more crew efficient types of warships. In this respect, Grand Admiral Teshik has taken a leaf out of Grand Moff Ardus Kaine book and the Pentastar Alignment, Kaine after forming his own Empire after Endor needed to rebuild his naval strength quickly, to do this, his engineers located in the Pentastar Alignment from both Sienar Fleet Systems and Kuat Drive Yards.

These engineers came up with the Enforcer class picket cruiser Enforcers are built on the same 600-meter frame as the Immobilizer 418 cruiser and Vindicator-class heavy cruiser. After Naval architects removed the massive power generators from an Interdictor cruiser and discovered that by re-arranging the vessels power grids, they could significantly beef up the ship's energy weapons, shields, and tractor beams. Even the engines experienced a bonus from this reconfiguration. The result was a very fast and manoeuvrable vessel that was well armed for a ship its size.

Although labelled as a picket ship, the cruiser serves as a frontline warship of Kaine's resource-strapped fleet. These Enforcer class cruisers are becoming the backbone of Kaine's fleet they are now a common sight throughout the Pentastar Alignment.

Grand Admiral Teshik will not be using the Enforcer design instead Teshik will produce the more powerful 600-meter long Vindicator-class heavy cruiser the more powerful (and costly) "brother" of the Enforcer class. Originally prior to Endor, the Vindicator-class was intended for use in situations in which Imperial-class star destroyers were unavailable, and smaller ships were not powerful enough. The Vindicator-class never entered full production, as the Imperial navy thought that the number of Imperial-class star destroyers being produced need to be cut back.

The reason for this is that the Vindicator-class can carry a full wing of starfighters (72), just like an Imperial class star destroyer, but at a fraction of the cost in both money and resources, the Vindicator-classes nickname is a "pocket star destroyer". The Vindicator-class is very powerful for a warship of its class, its armament can deal with warships up to the level of Victory class star destroyers and multiple Vindicators can in theory, take down a lone Imperial class star destroyer. The Vindicator-class would give the Rebels a nasty surprise, as the Rebels though that the Vindicator was one an Immobilizer 418 cruiser, this would cause the loss of a number of Rebels warships, both before and after Endor.

The final reason for using the Vindicator-class is crew numbers, this heavy cruiser only needs a crew of 2,600, compared to 37,000 for an Imperial class star destroyer, for a fully equipped Imperial class star destroyer, Teshik can have fourteen Vindicator-class heavy cruisers, which makes it a "no brainier" for Teshik.

The Vindicator-class does lack the planetary assault capability of the Imperial class, though Teshik has order that enough Imperial-class star destroyers are be produced for this role and to act as command ships of Imperial battle groups.

The Vindicator-class will also replace all existing Frigate and Heavy cruisers classes along with all escort carriers within Teshik forces, as part of Teshik long-term planning.

For the moment most of the new Vindicator-class cruiser will not carry a full wing of starfighters, they only carry a single squadron (12), these starfighter will be the TIE Advanced or TIE Interceptor model, as Teshik military program expands, the numbers of starfighters onboard each Vindicator will increase.

Production of these Vindicator-class cruisers is already underway Teshik is not letting the grass grow under his feet.

Each Imperial class star destroyer that is part of Teshik command now carries a modified fighter wing (72), consisting of one squadron of TIE Defenders (12), four squadrons of either TIE Interceptors or the TIE Avengers (48) and finally a single squadron of Scimitar assault bombers.

Over the next year, Teshik would watch as the various events unfolded, including a new Imperial offensive against the Rebels, however Teshik's forces would not participate in such an offensive, as Teshik was still building up his military strength, via Vice Admiral Pellaeon.

**Imperials (United)**

The surviving Imperial warlords, encouraged by what Grand Admiral Thrawn had so recently accomplished with so little and in such a short time, agreed to organize under the reformed Imperial Ruling Council for an offensive thrust into the Galactic Core. The New Republic could not match the military might of the re-unified Empire, and after a short, decisive campaign, the Empire had retaken the former Imperial Centre in the Fourth Battle of Coruscant.

However this alliance would not last long, as none of the members of the Imperial Ruling Council trusted each other, in the slightest, this could lead to only one action, a full scale Imperial civil war!

**Imperial Civil War**

When General Balan retook Coruscant, there are enormous celebrations amongst the "united" Empire, however these celebrations would only last a few days then things would start to rapidly fall apart, rapidly.

Having taken Coruscant, the Imperial Ruling Council decided the time had now come to elect a new Galactic Emperor for whom they would serve as a new Imperial Senate. The various Imperial Governors, Moffs, and Grand Moffs agreed, however with the requirement that they too would be granted seats in the new Imperial Senate and that their votes would be weighted for the number of worlds they controlled. The Councillors, however, refused as this would in effect decentralize power and share it among local rulers.

Matters after that would quickly fell apart, in addition, the Imperial military had been left out of the decision making process by the Imperial Ruling Council and the various Imperial Governors, Moffs, and Grand Moffs this did not sit well with the Imperial military command. Both the Imperial Navy and Army wanted seats within the new Imperial Senate in proportion with the amount of firepower the Imperial military possessed, this did not sit well with the Imperial Ruling Council as well as the Governors, Moffs, and Grand Moffs who saw this as the beginning of a military dictatorship.

The Imperial military sought to take power itself however, a split happened between the Army and the Navy. The latter insisted that it alone could choose a new Supreme Commander (a new Grand Admiral to lead the Imperial military) the Imperial army did not like that idea and even put forward General Balan as their choice as the new Supreme Commander, the navy in turn did not like the army's idea of a new Supreme Commander.

Then the bureaucrats along with COMPNOR attempted a coup, claiming that any change to the New Order would invalidate the Empire's existence. The COMPNOR coup failed as neither the Imperial navy nor army liked COMPNOR these two imperial military factions reunited again for a short time to deal with and eliminate the COMPNOR threat.

The Imperial Security Bureau and Imperial Intelligence, in turn, embarked on a campaign of assassinations against each other, along with anyone who got in their way.

After that, a more "overt" armed conflict soon broke out amongst most of the various Imperial factions on Coruscant and beyond. This "overt" armed conflict would lay much of the planet to waste, with billions of civilians dying in the crossfire between the various Imperial factions, as the conflict spread rapidly beyond Coruscant to the rest of the galaxy.

It would be the Imperial Civil War that would destroy more than half of the Imperial military and not the New Republic, as some of the larger Imperial Warlords have fleets that easily outnumbered the New Republics military forces and then some, especially those that command Oversectors.

The Imperial Civil War was also a chance for various Imperial Warlords to settle personal vendettas against rivals in the Imperil Court. These personal vendettas would be dealt with over dealing the day to day running of their own faction, this would also cause more harm to all Imperial factions would leave the running of the war to their minions over various Imperial Commanders, who are much less capable than the military commanders. The various Imperial Warlords do this because they fear their own military commanders might try to usurp their own commands and then kill them.

The various Imperial warlords are very paranoid against internal threats as well as other Warlords attacking them trust amongst the various Imperial Warlords is very low to non- existent.

As the war escalated entire sector groups of Imperial warships are destroyed battling each other, on the ground entire armies are virtually wiped out. The death toll of the Imperial military is in the tens of millions, a large number of smaller Imperial Warlords are wiped out during the early stages of the civil war, by the larger Imperial Warlords. Then these larger Imperial Warlords start to turn on each other, with devastating consequences, as anything the gets in their way is annulated with the vast firepower these larger Imperial Warlords have available.

The bulk of the ground and space fighting is fought on either, the surface of Coruscant or within the system itself, as the various Imperial Warlords seem to think that taking Coruscant or what is left of Coruscant will strengthen their claims to the Imperial throne.

The New Republic would initially try to stop the various Imperial factions however the firepower that most Imperial factions possessed could deal with the New Republics military forces, so the New Republics military returned to rebel tactics of hit and run, along with trying to alienate any Imperial factions that were trying to unite.

The Imperial Civil War would drag on for just over a year, with the various Imperial factions fighting against each other for control of the Empire. Some of the stronger Imperial factions managing to survive, by simply having overwhelming numbers, making it virtually impossible for another Imperial faction or factions of a similar size to destroy their opposing faction for fear also of both sides being wiped out during the fighting.

So as the Imperial Civil War drags on, six months into the war, the stronger Imperial factions start to dig into their holdings and fortify there key systems and worlds. Once this is underway, the strongest Imperial factions start to try to gain more firepower than the other Imperial factions do by trying to gain control of key production and training facilities to increase their own firepower beyond that of the other Imperial factions.

No one could guess that during the civil war that they were being watched from the Deep Core, by the reborn Emperor, who was watching with some amusement as the various Imperial factions went to war against each other.

The civil war, was being watched by Grand Admiral Teshik, who was not amused, Teshik intelligence section has picked up that parts of the remaining Imperial battle fleet were just disappearing, Teshik has set out to find out were these Imperial warships were going and who was controlling them.

This would lead Teshik discovering that like himself the Emperor was not dead.

**Emperors Return**

In deep space between star systems, the crew of the Eleemosynary have been monitoring the Imperial communication channels.

Almost immediately one of the communications operators says, "Sir, I have picked up indications that the Imperial civil war has suddenly come to an end, all Imperial factions appear to be unifying under one commander."

Grand Admiral Teshik looks at his display that confirms what the communications operator has just told him, Teshik says, "Interesting, continue to monitor, try to find out where this commander is based."

The communications operator responds, "Yes sir" and goes back to monitoring the Imperial communication channels for further information.

Captain Frisk, who has been looking at the same data from his Captains chair, turns in his chair towards Teshik and says, "Admiral, do you think that another commander like Grand Admiral Thrawn has managed to unify the various Imperial factions?"

Grand Admiral Teshik looks up from his displays at Captain Frisk and replies, "I don't know Captain, this does not feel like any strategy a Grand Admiral would use, as I knew all the Empires Grand Admirals, along with an understanding of the combat tactics that they would use. This strategy does not match any of the Empires Grand Admiral, most peculiar."

Captain Frisk says, "Then what Imperial military commander would have the ability to reunite the Empire?"

Grand Admiral Teshik responds, "I need more information on the location of the new commander of the Empire before I can answer that question. Though I do have my own suspicions on whom this commander may be." Teshik then goes back to viewing the information on his displays without saying anymore.

Captain Frisk nods and turns back to his own displays, Grand Admiral Teshik will inform him in due course Captain Frisk has learned that much over the past few years.

**Main Bridge**

After several hours of work, suddenly the communications operator says, "Sir, I have identified where all the orders are coming from".

Grand Admiral Teshik with an element of dark humour in his voice says, "Well don't keep it to yourself"

The communications operator response is one word, "Byss" Grand Admiral Teshik looked from the communications operator then to his own display then everything clicked. Grand Admiral Teshik knew who was in charge of the Empire and who had managed to reunite the various Imperial factions.

Grand Admiral Teshik responds "The Emperor"

Around the bridge all that can be heard is the equipment humming away in the background, no one is saying anything, though several of the bridge crew are grinning with some others with no expressions on their faces.

Breaking through the silence, Grand Admiral Teshik then says, "Helm set course for the Deep Core."

The helmsman replies, "Aye sir" and begins instructing the navigation computer, as the helmsman it plotting the course the noise level on the bridge starts to return to normal.

Meanwhile on Byss Emperor Palpatine has been monitoring his reunification efforts of his Empire, he is pleased with the progress so far.

**Deep Core**

In the Deep Core on a planet known as Byss, the re-born Emperor Palpatine watched the Imperial Civil war coming to an end, as his servants on Byss issued orders for the fighting to stop, as he knew that only he could keep the Empire together. It would soon be time to revel that he was alive, Palpatine thought and then the galaxy would see the true power of the dark side of the force.

Hidden within the densely packed mass of stars at the very heart of the galaxy, the Deep Core (also known as the Deep Galactic Core or Core Systems) is a small region that hid unusual worlds. The Deep Core is home to the galaxy's oldest stars, at its centre is a black hole surrounded by antimatter and dense star clusters. Due to the gravitational pull of the vast number of stars, local space-time is severely warped, making hyperspace travel difficult at best. The region was thought to be inaccessible until Emperor Palpatine (after spending vast sums of money and resources) found several safe hyperlanes into the region such as the Deep Core Run.

The Deep Core would become the Emperors retreat from the galaxy, and Byss would become his second throne world, along with many other things as well.

**Byss**

Byss is a planet in the Deep Core, near the centre of the galaxy. A local day lasts 31 standard hours, and a local year lasted 207 standard days. Byss itself is somewhat of a myth, seeming to be the perfect place to live. Its eerie blue-green glow, caused by its sun, also added to the strangeness of the world. Despite this outward appearance, however, Emperor Palpatine's dark side energies were everywhere, corrupting not only the inhabitants, but also the planet itself. Byss is the secret throne world of Palpatine and the location of his towering Imperial Citadel. He also keeps his secret supply of clone bodies there.

During the Galactic Empire's expansion into the Deep Core region, Palpatine selected Byss as his personal retreat and his secret throne world. Thousands of non-Human slaves were forced to labour in the "re-colonization efforts" on Byss including the Utapauns and Gamorreans after the Clone Wars.

It was on Byss that a number of captured AgriCorps workers and Padawans where held captive under the supervision of Sly Moore, until the Emperor introduced them to Darth Vader. Vader killed all but four of them; these four he trained to be Inquisitors. One of the chosen, named Antinnis Tremayne would eventually become a High Inquisitor, who would in turn train Adalric Cessius Brandl in the dark side of the force.

The Emperor drew ignorant followers to the planet under the pretext that it was a paradise world. Among them were survivors of the Destruction of Alderaan, which he offered to resettle on Byss in a public speech delivered following the destruction of the world. Once they had settled into their new lives on the paradise world, the Emperor revealed his true plans for Byss. Immigrants lived out their lives in elaborate pageants and amusements, which distracted them from what Palpatine was really doing draining their life energies to power his abominable experiments. Eventually, Byss is entirely enveloped in the dark side of the Force. This was evident by the eerie blue-green sunlight that bathed the world in a strange glow.

Byss has vast orbital dry-docks currently producing both World Devastators, the next generation of Super Star Destroyers (Eclipse and Sovereign classes) and later on, the Galaxy Gun. At the height of its power, Byss is encircled by a large number of Imperial warships, along with the existing battle stations for the Emperor's protection.

Security around Byss is very tight all ships that do not stop after the first warning are destroyed without another warning.

The population of Byss is fanatically loyal to the Emperor even after his first death at the Battle of Endor. When the Emperor was reborn in a new clone body, Byss will become the capital world of the reborn Galactic Empire, which Palpatine is currently planning on building into a Dark Empire, the beginnings of a universe spanning Dark Side controlled Empire.

**Deep Core, Planet Byss, Several Days Later**

In the Deep Core on a planet known as Byss, the re-born Emperor Palpatine, was now ready to start revealing his existence to the galaxy as a whole.

Palpatine was chuckling to himself on how quickly the various Imperil factions stopped fighting each other and again swore loyalty to him, though a few graphic executions of the more troublesome Imperial commanders did help the process.

Sate Pestage entered the throne room Pestage was the only one who could do this, as he had proved his loyalty over the decades.

Pestage waits for a few moments, and then when the Emperor waves his hand, Pestage says, "Majesty, I have received a signal from an Imperial commander."

The Emperor looked at his loyal servant, and asks, "Why have you brought this to my attention, I have given you authority over all the Imperial military Admirals and Generals, why bring this to me?"

Pestage replies, "Sire, this is no ordinary Imperial Admiral or General it is one of the Grand Admirals."

The Emperor is very rarely surprised by anything, but now he is surprised, and asks, "Which Grand Admiral?"

Pestage nervously replies, "Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik."

The Emperor chuckles to himself again then asks, "Where is he at the moment?"

Pestage replies, "Grand Admiral Teshik is onboard the Eleemosynary, holding position at one of the entry positions to the Deep Core."

The Emperor thinks for several moments then says, "Allow him to enter, I wish to see Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik immediately. If any harm comes to him, I will be most displeased."

Pestage replies, "As you wish my master" and turns and leaves to carry out the Emperors orders. The last part of the Emperors instructions about no harm coming to Teshik, is directed at the other Imperial commanders to make sure they do not try to kill Teshik, with the Emperors protection no one will now dare to try that, especially here on Byss.

If anyone did, Pestage would immediately inform his master, then the Emperor would deal with the offender or offenders personally, with a threat like that hanging over them none of the Imperial Court would dare harm Teshik.

**Eleemosynary, at the entry position to the Deep Core**

Since Teshik had informed the boarder space stations commander of who he was the Eleemosynary had been holding its position, waiting on a reply from Byss. The suddenly a communications operator says, "Sir, I have an incoming communication"

Teshik asks, "From the space station?"

The communications operator replies, "Not directly, this appears to be being relayed from within the Deep Core."

Teshik says, "Put it through."

In front of Teshik appears the holographic image of Sate Pestage, he says, "Welcome Grand Admiral Teshik."

Outwardly, Teshik seems unaffected by seeing Sate Pestage who he thought was dead, replies, "Greetings Pestage, it has been a long time. I assume you have instruction for me from the Emperor?"

Pestage gives Teshik a very thin smile and replies, "Yes I do, the Emperor wishes to see you, your ship has been cleared to travel to Byss. I will see you shortly in person."

Teshik looking off at a display can see the authorization codes already downloading into the Eleemosynary data banks says, "I will be at Byss in a matter of hours." With that, Pestage ends the transmission.

Teshik then says, "Helm, take us the Byss."

The helmsman replies, "Aye sir" and shortly afterwards the Eleemosynary enters into hyperspace towards Byss and the Emperor.

**Byss**

A short while later, the Eleemosynary exits hyperspace in the Byss system, to be confronted by vast numbers of Imperial warships of all classes and types within the system.

Captain Frisk is the first to speak and says, "Look at all this assembled firepower, there must be the bulk of the remaining Imperial fleet within this system."

Teshik looking at the main display and shaking his head states, "This is an unwise strategy, bringing this many warships into one system, they will merely get in each other's way during combat." Captain Frisk does not say anything in response he is staring at the vast armada of Imperial warships.

Teshik continues, "I will be going down to the Emperor's Citadel, you are in command Captain Frisk."

Captain Frisk replies, "Yes sir"

A short while later a shuttle shoots from the Eleemosynary main hanger bay, escorted by a pair of TIE Defenders.

**Emperor's Citadel**

A short while later Grand Admiral Teshik is en-route to the Emperor's Citadel, this great black and red-tinted tower contained the personal quarters and offices of Palpatine and his officials. The Emperor's throne room, cloning facilities which kept his collection of clone bodies, dark side Sith alchemical laboratories, the Great Hall, a war room, libraries filled with dark side tomes are also located within the Emperor's Citadel.

It is within this citadel on his throne world that Palpatine experimented on a wide range of life with his dark side powers, even sentient beings. There were also sublevel breeding facilities, which birthed the deadly Chrysalide rancors. Elite Imperial Sovereign Protectors the best of the Imperial Royal Guard are stationed at the Imperial Citadel. Where Palpatine kept his cloning facilities within the palace to make it easier and faster to resurrect himself when needed.

There are also a series of training rooms in the Palace compound where Palpatine trains his Dark Side Adepts and a few chosen Inquisitors, Palpatine also keeps several Jedi and Sith holocrons which he had acquired. The Emperors Throne room was also capable of serving as a military command centre which he will used to supervise the upcoming assault by the World Devastators on such worlds as Mon Calamari.

The Citadel is a city unto itself.

**Main Landing Bay Emperor's Citadel**

Teshik can see Sate Pestage waiting for them, along with a dozen members of the Royal Guard.

As Grand Admiral Teshik descends the ramp of the shuttle, Sate Pestage says, "Welcome to Byss Grand Admiral Teshik."

Grand Admiral Teshik replies, "Thank you for your welcome Pestage." Teshik tone is much calmer and very polite, this is not what Pestage was expecting from Grand Admiral Teshik, especially as he had known Teshik prior to Endor, Teshik, seemed like a changed man to Pestage.

Sate Pestage says, "I am to escort you to the Emperors presence"

Sate Pestage leads Grand Admiral Teshik into the Emperor's Citadel, towards the Emperor's Throne Room.

As they walk towards the Emperor's Throne Room, several members of the Imperial Court gasp at the presence of an Imperial Grand Admiral among them, as they all had thought that all the Grand Admirals had been killed, either during that battle of Endor or afterwards.

As they continue, Teshik can hear a mummer behind them, as the members of the Imperial Court begin to discuss the imprecations of a Grand Admiral among them, along with the Emperors orders regarding Grand Admiral Teshik not being harmed, that Teshik is again in the Emperors favour and all that entails.

Soon they are at the entrance of the throne room Pestage bids both of them to enter, while Pestage and the members of the Royal Guard remain outside.

**Meeting with the Emperor**

As Grand Admiral Teshik enters, the throne room within Palpatine's citadel on Byss is a semi-circular room with rounded walls and ceiling, with a massive area of the rounded wall occupied by a large circular display-screen, which allowed the throne room to function as a military command centre. The throne, also rounded is place in front of the screen.

Sitting in the throne, is the Emperor, Grand Admiral Teshik studies the Emperor, while waiting for the Emperor to acknowledge his presence.

Palpatine looks up from his throne and says, "Welcome back Grand Admiral Teshik."

Grand Admiral Teshik bows and replies, "Thank you, Excellency, I trust your clone body is fine."

Palpatine chuckles at Teshik comment and says, "Yes my new clone body is in good condition." Pausing for a few moments then continues, "From the reports, I see that you have been busy Grand Admiral, you have accomplished much in a small amount of time.

Teshik replies, "Thank you, Excellency I have managed to stabilize what Thrawn had direct control of."

Palpatine says, "Indeed you have, I also see that you are building up your military forces."

Teshik replies, "Yes Excellency, the forces that I have at this time are insufficient to do both defence and attack."

Palpatine says, "I see that from this report. I am giving the forces that were under Thrawn to you to command you are to continue with your military expansion."

Teshik replies, "Thank you Excellency, what of the Rebels, do you with me to deal with them?"

Palpatine says, "I will deal with the Rebels personally Grand Admiral Teshik, you will keep the knowledge of your return to yourself, I do not wish to lose my last Grand Admiral, is that clear?"

Teshik bow slightly and replies, "Yes Excellency, I will obey."

Palpatine smiles at Teshik and says, "Good, now down to business, we have much to discuss, once I have dealt with the Rebels and those Imperials that are traitors, you will help be rebuilt the Imperial military to its former glory."

For the next few hours, Palpatine instructs Teshik on what Teshik needs to do while the Emperor deals with the Rebels.

Over the next few weeks Teshik fees a new sense of purpose, when he returns to his command he informs those senior Imperial military commanders of the Emperors return and the confirmation that he now commands Thrawn's former forces.

The senior Imperial military commanders of Teshik command are both overwhelmed and shocked that the Emperor is alive, however as Teshik survived Endor, the shock is subdued, after all if a Grand Admiral can survive why not the Emperor?

Soon the Emperor will start Operation Shadow Hand and begin to regain control of the Empire once again those who sought to create their own Empires will be dealt with by the Emperors agent. However not all Imperials that created their own Empires will be killed only a few will be killed as an example to the others.

One of the first to be killed will be Grand Moff Ardus Kaine of the Pentastar Alignment.

**Operation Shadow Hand**

During the height of the Imperial civil war, the Emperor returned uniting the various Imperial factions and during this time, the Emperor initiated Operation Shadow Hand. Operation Shadow Hand or the "Shadow Hand Strategy" is the Imperial name for the section of the Galactic Civil War following in the wake of the Thrawn campaign.

Operation Shadow Hand applied to the collective military campaigns that the re-born Emperor Palpatine launched in an attempt to retake control of the Galaxy for the Galactic Empire. These are essentially "wave assaults" from Byss and the rest of the Deep Core. These "wave assaults" on former imperial controlled worlds would include production versions of the World Devastators as part of these "wave assaults" fleets attacking strong points of the New Republic.

As part of Operation Shadow Hand, Emperor Palpatine sends his agents to kill certain Imperial warlords that he considered traitors. Many Imperial warlords would be killed by the Emperors agents including Grand Moff Ardus Kaine, leaving the local commanders of the Pentastar Alignment to continue to run the day-to-day operations of the Alignment (which they will do until the Pentastar Alignment is merged with another Imperial after the Emperors final death).

Nearly two years after the Emperors return the New Republic is on its knees, although the New Republic had won a few battles, it is losing the war against the newly reborn Empire and Emperor.

Having returned in yet another clone, Palpatine continues his campaign against the New Republic, armed with another deadly super weapon, the Galaxy Gun, and his second Eclipse class super star destroyer, the Eclipse II, Palpatine has forced many former New Republic worlds to submit to Imperial rule. However, despite his growing Empire, Palpatine clone body was again deteriorating and becoming frail and weak.

Even worse was to come, the Emperor began to succumb to genetic tampering done to his clone bodies by the treacherous Imperial Sovereign Protector Carnor Jax, via his own trusted doctor who had been turned by Carnor Jax to kill the Emperor so that Carnor Jax could become Emperor. He tried to clone other bodies so that he could resurrect himself, but Jax had succeeded in tainting even the genetic source material.

With his body wasting away rapidly, he went to the Sith world Korriban to consult the ancient spirits of his forebears. They advised that Emperor Palpatine needed to enter Leia's newborn son, Anakin Solo, so that he could be reborn in a force sensitive body.

Palpatine has brought the Eclipse II to Onderon, where the Solos had relocated their children. While the New Republic military engaged the Imperials, a team of Jedi, led by Luke, sought out the Emperor. They did not find him aboard his ship since he had slipped down to Onderon to find Leia. During the battle, Lando Calrissian with a New Republic commando team had infiltrated the Eclipse II, using R2-D2 to sabotage the vehicle's automated hyperdrive engines and set the coordinates to match the location of the Galaxy Gun, which was over Byss and then the commando team left the Eclipse II just before it jumped into hyperspace.

The Eclipse II jumped into hyperspace, despite the efforts of the crew to regain control of the vessel with a course set for Byss. Above Byss, both super weapons collided with each other. The Galaxy Gun's final missile was pulled into the planet's gravity and explodes, destroying the re-born Emperors throne world and a large part of the rebuilt Imperial fleet that was in orbit.

Meanwhile Palpatine was trying to enter Leia's newborn son, Anakin Solo, but was prevented by Empatojayos Brand, who threw himself in the way. The Jedi Knight bound the Emperor's soul to his own departing life force, taking it with him, as he became one with the Force. Railing and cursing against the Skywalker family, Emperor Palpatine's spirit was dragged into the depths of the Force. There he would experience disembodiment in darkness, perpetual madness as if to always live with an open wound, terror without respite.

Darth Sidious, considered by many to be the greatest Dark Lords of the Sith of all time, was finally dead (maybe, but never underestimate the Dark side of the force!).

With the death of the Emperor, the Emperor's doctor, who was in custody with the New Republic was being transported to a safer location, when the ship transporting the Emperor's doctor simply disappeared. After an extensive search no trace would ever be found of either the New Republic warship or the Emperor's doctor, this would remain a mystery for many years to come.

In the aftermath of the final death of Palpatine, Grand Admiral Teshik had a decision to make, while Teshik is making his decision, the New Republic is rapidly regaining lost ground at an alarming rate.

However, for Teshik there is good news, with the destruction of Byss, all those Imperial Advisors that were aware that Teshik was not dead are now dead themselves, thus Teshik secret is safe. The other advantage is that the Emperor has not broadcast the fact the Teshik was alive the Emperor has "merely" expanded Teshik command from fifteen sectors to thirty. The resources of these thirty sectors will be extremely useful to Teshik, however the Emperor had not chosen to give Teshik the equivalent of thirty sector groups to guard these sectors, Teshik now amounted to only nineteen sectors groups to defend thirty sectors.

Over the past two years of the Emperors return the numbers of Vindicator-class heavy cruisers coming into service within Teshik has increased dramatically, the distraction of the Emperors return has left Teshik command virtually untouched by Rebel attacks. Though Teshik command is still quite weak, Teshik will keep his forces on the defensive until he can build up his own military strength.

Several weeks after the final death of the Emperor, in a system, a damage lone New Republic frigate has captured an Imperial pilot in the aftermath of a short battle this Imperial pilot is now being questioned while the frigates battle damage is being repaired.

This Imperial Pilot will reveal several secrets to the New Republic that the New Republic is unaware of.

To be continued.


	7. Chapter 7

**7. Interview with an Imperial Pilot**

_"In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Good Will" _Winston Churchill

With the destruction of Byss and the final death of Palpatine, the various Imperial factions resume their civil war.

The New Republic seizing on the resuming of the Imperial civil war, begin to retake territory at an alarming rate from the Empire, with the various Imperial factions seemingly more concerned about each other than the New Republic. Most of the Empire puts up very little resistance against the New Republic, with the exception of a few Imperial commanders such as Vice Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, who still commands the remains of Grand Admiral Thrawn's fleet and territory.

In the aftermath of a battle, a New Republic warship, the frigate New Hope has captured an Imperial pilot the only survivor of the recent battle the frigates intelligence officer has begun to question the pilot.

The New Republic intelligence officer Lieutenant Vale Hetz, recently assigned to the front after being fast tracked through her training, Lieutenant Hetz enters the interview room the Imperial pilot is now out of his flight gear and is in prisoner overalls.

Lieutenant Hetz sits down at the table facing the Imperial pilot, then turns on her recorder and asks, "For the record please state your name, rank and serial number."

The Imperial pilot smiles at her and replies, "Mark Smitz, Lieutenant, serial number ZKEQ2549878-A"

Lieutenant Hetz then says, "Thank you. Now are you willing to talk about your Imperial service?"

Lieutenant Smitz looks at Lieutenant Hetz his head slightly angled to one side then he replies, "Depending on what you want to know?"

Lieutenant Hetz says, "Everything that you know about the Imperial military."

In reply Lieutenant Smitz just laughs.

Lieutenant Hetz who has a slightly annoyed look on her face asks, "What is so funny, that was a reasonable question, anyway you are just a lieutenant you cannot know that much."

Lieutenant Smitz shrugs his shoulders slightly and replies, "You should hear that question from my side then you would understand. As for being a 'just a lieutenant' as you put it, as you should know rank is not a precursor to knowledge."

Lieutenant Hetz in a rather sulky tone asks, "Fine then tell me something that the New Republic does not know?"

Lieutenant Smitz looks up at the ceiling for a few moments and then replies, "Ok, I will do, how about we start on familiar territory, let's say Grand Admiral Thrawn."

The mention of Thrawn's name makes Lieutenant Hetz blink then she says, "Thrawn is dead, there is not much to tell."

Lieutenant Smitz shakes his head and says, "You are wrong there lieutenant, how about why it took Thrawn five years to assume command of the Empires military forces after Endor. Has no one ever asked that question?"

Lieutenant Hetz frowns then keys her data pad, after a few moments, she says, "I cannot find any reference to that question, though as you know this frigate was damaged in the recent battle and we are out of contact with the New Republic."

Lieutenant Smitz shakes his head again and says, "I thought not, you Rebels always think that once you had defeated Thrawn that the Empire would just rollover, you have no idea what is really going on, in an odd way that is quite amusing. Anyway that discussion is for another time the reason why Thrawn was away for so long is that his own command was fully occupying his time."

A slightly confused Lieutenant Hetz asks, "What command would that be?"

Lieutenant Smitz now grinning replies, "Why the Empire of the Hand."

Lieutenant Hetz after checking her data pad says, "I have no record of an Imperial Command called the Empire of the Hand."

Lieutenant Smitz still grinning replies, "I would hope not, only a very few in the Empire where aware of the existence of the Empire of the Hand and as far as I am aware the Empire of the Hand is still operating even after Thrawn's murder."

Lieutenant Hetz is now realizing that either she is facing a very good liar or an Imperial pilot with a lot of vital knowledge for the New Republic, she then asks, "Do you know the location of the Empire of the Hand?"

Lieutenant Smitz nods and replies, "Yes it is in the Unknown Regions."

Lieutenant Hetz says, "That is a pretty big area can you narrow it down a bit?"

Lieutenant Smitz replies, "Sorry should have said, it is the Unknown Regions."

A shocked Lieutenant Hetz says, "You have got to be joking?"

Lieutenant Smitz replies, "Nope, Grand Admiral Thrawn was charged by the Emperor, several years before the battle of Yavin IV to map the Unknown Regions, just before Endor, Thrawn reported that he had mapped space equivalent to over 200 standard sectors in size."

A still shocked Lieutenant Hetz says, "That would have taken a vast fleet of ships"

Lieutenant Smitz replies, "Yes it did and as the then Admiral Thrawn stated 'The Unknown Regions are the future of the Empire. It's only fitting that the Imperial Fleet leads the way.' Since its inception, the Empire of the Hand has expanded at a steady rate, the resources that the Emperor had been sending both covertly and overtly. Before Endor where quite small in number over the years compared to the size of the imperial military as a whole however these resources are more than enough to map the equivalent of several sectors a year."

After a few moments to allow the information to sink in, Lieutenant Smitz continues, "From its inception, by both the Emperor and Thrawn, the Emperor would feed ships and personnel at a slow but steady pace to Thrawn's command over the years before Endor, some of these ships and personnel would be sent covertly others overtly. When the Empire of the Hand was created, Thrawn had been playing politics against the other Imperial courtiers, this however was setup, as other Imperial courtiers closed in on Thrawn, Thrawn and Palpatine had hatched a plot to satisfy both of their long term desires to bring the Imperial Fleet and the Empire to the Unknown Regions. To achieve this, Thrawn feigned defeat in the political battles and was sent away by Palpatine. Thrawn was given the Imperial class star destroyer Admonitor as his flagship under the command of Captain Niriz's alongside Voss Parck. Who was downgraded from Captain to Commander in rank and set out on the mapping mission into the unknown regions."

Lieutenant Hetz is trying to take in the enormity of the information she has just been given and asks, "So Grand Admiral Thrawn's military forces are still in the Unknown Regions then?"

Lieutenant Smitz in a slightly sarcastic tone replies, "As far as I know yes, though I think calling it the Unknown Regions is a bit pointless as it is not unknown anymore?"

Lieutenant Hetz ignores Smitz tone are asks, "So do you know how large these forces are, I doubt that they are the size of 200 odd sector groups?"

Lieutenant Smitz replies, "You are correct, there are not 200 sector groups within the Empire of the Hand, however as to the actual Order of Battle, I genuinely don't have that information, however I would guess at least several reinforced sector groups in size. I do know that the Empire of the Hand has several deep ranged colonies and associated ship yards and other associated equipment, so I would assume that the Empire of the Hand cannot only maintain their own warships but also build new ones."

Lieutenant Hetz thinks to herself, this pilot knows more than a mere pilot should the New Republic have a bigger catch here than we realize. I need to inform the Captain of this. Lieutenant Hetz says, "I think we will pause there for a while, I will arrange for some refreshments for you."

Lieutenant Smitz replies, "As you wish."

Lieutenant Hetz gets up and leaves, leaving instructions with the two guards that if anything happened to the prisoner, the same would happen to them, they both understood that the prisoner had vital information.

**New Hope, Main Bridge**

As the turbolift opened onto the frigates main bridge, Lieutenant Hetz can see the Captain busy attending to the repairs to his ship after the recent battle.

Lieutenant Hetz approaches the Captain and clears her throat, the Captain looks at her says, "Lieutenant Hetz how does your questioning go of the prisoner?"

Lieutenant Hetz replies, "I think that we may have a bigger fish than we thought sir, I would like for you to look over the information the prisoner has given me?"

The Captain shakes his head and replies, "I do not have the time right now lieutenant."

Lieutenant Hetz in a more insistent tone replies, "I think you need to read this now sir."

The Captain sighs' and replies, "Very well if it is important lieutenant, let me have your data pad."

Lieutenant Hetz hands the Captain her data pad and he read the information. After a few minutes the Captain says, "He may be playing you lieutenant with this information you know?"

Lieutenant Hetz replies, "Possibly, but I am not willing to take the risk, especially after the recent return of the Emperor, can we risk the possibility that there may be a large and possibly expanding Imperial military presence in the Unknown Regions?"

After thinking for a few moments the Captain replies, "No I do not think that we can lieutenant, however for the time being we are dead in space, we also have no long ranged communications, due to the battle damage." Looking at his display on the estimated repair time that Captain continues, "It will be another hour or so before we can get underway."

Lieutenant Hetz replies, "Understood sir."

The Captain says, "I will come and have a word with your prisoner and hear this for myself."

Lieutenant Hetz replies, "Yes sir."

Both the Captain and Lieutenant Hetz leave the bridge for the interview room.

**Interview Room**

The Captain and Lieutenant Hetz enter the Interview Room, Lieutenant Smitz it just finishing of his meal, he says, "I thought that you would go and find the Captain and report our little chat."

The Captain asks, "Are you prepared to verify your recent statement for the record?"

Lieutenant Smitz replies, "Yes Captain I am, it should be easy to prove, provided you can repair this frigate?"

The Captain stiffens at Lieutenant Smitz remark and says, "Repairs should be complete in less than one hour."

Lieutenant Smitz takes a deep breath closes his eyes for a few moments then gently lets out his breath and replies, "That's good to know Captain" then with a grin he says, "I will hold you to that estimate."

The Captain shakes his head and says, "I would like you to repeat what you just told the lieutenant."

Lieutenant Smitz replies, "Very well if you insist Captain"

For the next fifty minutes the Captain questions Lieutenant Smitz about what he told Lieutenant Hetz, the Captain now is as convinced as Lieutenant Hetz is that the information that Lieutenant Smitz is telling them is true.

Just as the Captain is about to continue his comm goes off and he says into in, "This is the Captain, what is it?"

The voice on the other end replies, "Captain sorry to bother you but two ships have just dropped out of hyperspace"

The Captain asks, "Have you identified them?"

The voice on the other end replies, "No sir, the communications system is still down as are our long ranged sensors, until they get closer we won't be able to identify them."

The Captain says, "I am on my way to the bridge" then switches of his comm. and says to Lieutenant Hetz, "Continue to question the prisoner, see what other information he is willing to give us?"

Lieutenant Hetz replies, "Yes sir."

The Captain then leaves the Interview Room for the bridge.

Lieutenant Smitz says, "Looks like we are alone again."

Lieutenant Hetz asks, "I do have one question, how do you know all this information. You don't seem old enough to have been around when you claim that the Empire of the Hand was set up."

Lieutenant Smitz laughs again and says, "You are right, I was not even born when the Empire of the Hand was set up decades ago, by Thrawn and the Emperor."

Lieutenant Hetz asks, "Then how do you know about it?"

Lieutenant Smitz in an almost casual tone replies, "That is easy, my father told me about the Empire of the Hand along with a 'few' other things."

A glimmer of understanding has just crossed Lieutenant Hetz face, and then she asks, "Who is your father?"

Lieutenant Smitz replies, "Are you sure you want to know?"

A puzzled expression crosses Lieutenant Hetz face and she replies, "Yes I do, that's why I asked"

Lieutenant Smitz replies, "Very well, my father is Adalric Cessius Brandl"

Lieutenant Hetz freezes for several moments she had heard that name many times it was a named to be feared throughout the Empire and then says, "Your father, was one of the Emperors Inquisitors?"

Lieutenant Smitz replies, "Yes, that is how I know so much, he told me." Then is a quiet and distant voice he says, "Amongst other things."

Lieutenant Hetz finally realizes that the pilot before her is not rally called Smitz then she asks, "So your name is not really Smitz then?"

Lieutenant Smitz replies, "No my real name is Jaalib Brandl"

Before Lieutenant Hetz can say anything the battle alarm goes off, Jaalib Brandl says, "That would be my father come to rescue me. I would suggest that you tell the Captain to surrender?"

Lieutenant Hetz looking at Jaalib Brandl is disgust and replies, "Fat chance of that"

Jaalib Brandl shakes his head and says, "You have no idea who you are up against, commanding the warships out there do you?"

Lieutenant Hetz who is still looking at Jaalib Brandl, replies, "No, but you are going to tell me, aren't you?"

Jaalib Brandl shrugs his shoulders and says, "Ok, if you want, it won't make any difference to the outcome of this fight, that is Fleet Admiral Feyet Kiez commanding the Imperial II class star destroyer Empire, I assume you have heard of him?"

All Lieutenant Hetz can do in reply is nod Admiral Kiez commands one of the few remaining elite Imperial battle groups that remain, then the ship suddenly goes dark, a few moments later the emergency systems come online, Jaalib Brandl says, "Ion cannons, you have been disabled now they will board you."

A few minutes later, the intruder alarm goes off, after that, distant sound of a firefight can be heard, Jaalib Brandl says, "I told you."

Soon everything gets very noisy, then there are two shots from outside of the interview room, they can both hear the two guards outside the room being killed, Jaalib Brandl says, "I would not try to shoot it out with these elite stormtroopers, I doubt you would even get of a shot, surrender to me."

Lieutenant Hetz, who is holding her blaster pistol pointed at the door, then flicks the weapon to safe then hands it to Jaalib Brandl, saying, "I surrender"

Jaalib Brandl closes his eyes for a few moments, then from outside the door, a clam but strong voice says, "You can come out now."

Outside the room, is Lord Brandl, Imperial Inquisitor, with a dozen stormtroopers flanking him, Jaalib Brandl says, "Father" though his tone is none to pleasant, this puzzles Lieutenant Hetz, but she says nothing.

In reply, Lord Brandl in a much more caring tone than his son, "It is good to see that you are unharmed son." Then looking at Lieutenant Hetz, Lord Brandl in a dead tone voice asks, "Who is this?"

Jaalib Brandl says, "Father, may I introduce Lieutenant Hetz of New Republic Intelligence, she is the one who has been questioning me, not very well I might add" then handing the blaster pistol to his father, who intern hands Jaalib Brandl his lightsaber.

Before Lieutenant Hetz can speak, one of the stormtroopers speaks and says, "Sir, mission completed."

Lord Brandl replies, "Good, time we are leaving, come along son, leave her here with the rest."

Lieutenant Hetz feels as though she is rooted to the floor, after what Jaalib Brandl has just told her, then Jaalib Brandl says, "Thanks for the talk, it was fun."

Lieutenant Hetz finally finds her voice and asks, "You are leaving me here?"

Jaalib Brandl smiles and replies, "Yep" then pauses and says, "by the way Thrawn was not the last Grand Admiral, there is another Grand Admiral still alive" without waiting for a reply turns and follows his father back to one of the boarding shuttles.

Leaving Lieutenant Hetz wondering why they did not take any prisoners, quickly checking the rest of the ship, via the ships internal comm, Lieutenant Hetz finds that there are other survivors from the Imperial attack, dotted around the ship.

Lieutenant Hetz has a lot to report to New Republic intelligence though she does wonder why she was not killed after all such information is not normally just given away, especially the bit about another Grand Admiral on the loose that is not good news.

Lieutenant Hetz would very shortly get the answer to that question!

**Star Destroyer Empire, Main Bridge**

On the bridge of the star destroyer Empire, Fleet Admiral Feyet Kiez has been watching over the return of the assault force, from the New Republic frigate.

As Lord Brandl enters the bridge, followed by his son, still wearing the orange prison jumpsuit, Lord Brandl says, "Mission completed, Admiral, you may proceed."

Admiral Kiez bows slightly and replies, "Understood my lord." Then turning to the Captain of the Empire Admiral Kiez says, "Captain, you may proceed."

The Captain replies, "Understood Admiral." Then the Captain presses a button on his consol, the New Republic frigate then explodes from the charges planted by the stormtroopers. Lieutenant Hetz now will not be making any report to New Republic intelligence about what Jaalib Brandl had told her.

The only reason that Jaalib Brandl had told Lieutenant Hetz about the Empire of the Hand was so that the Captain of the New Republic frigate would come down and inform him of how long the repairs would take. So that he could inform his father of the extent of the damage to the frigate and the time, it would take to repair this damage, via the force.

Once the frigate has been destroyed Lord Brandl says, "Admiral, you may take us home now, I will be in my quarters if you need me."

With that, the Empire and its accompanying Interdictor cruiser jump into hyperspace leaving behind another mystery for the New Republic to try to figure out.

Jaalib Brandl would remain on the bridge most of the time during the return trip home staring out of the main bridge windows.

The New Republic will never know about the Empire of the Hand and the fact that there is another Grand Admiral still around, well not from the now deceased Lieutenant Hetz.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Empire is dividing into various factions, again.

**Imperial Factions**

**Grand Admiral Teshik Command**

Grand Admiral Teshik command is turning into what is becoming known as the Imperial Remnant, to the rest of the galaxy, within this command it is referred to as the Empire, this Imperial military force is under the "command" of Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, in reality however Admiral Pellaeon answers to Teshik.

Grand Admiral Teshik controls thirty sectors (double what he had before the Emperor returned), along with a rapidly expanding military force, this force is now more than able to deal with any threats from either the various Imperial Warlords or the New Republic.

The New Republic is giving "Admiral Gilad Pellaeon" command a wide birth as Admiral Pellaeon was proving to be a very tough nut to crack, as Admiral Pellaeon forces are well are well dug in. In addition Admiral Pellaeon have not attacked the New Republic (yet), the New Republic hopes that peace terms can be agreed between Admiral Pellaeon and the New Republic, similar to those offered to the Pentastar Alignment and the Protectorate.

For now, the New Republic will leave Admiral Pellaeon command alone just as Grand Admiral Teshik had predicted that, they would do, giving Teshik time to build up his forces for the coming battle.

**Other Imperial Factions**

In other parts of the galaxy the various Imperial factions are vying for power with one exception, this is Imperial "Pocket Empire" called the Pentastar Alignment, has not been attacked by any Imperial faction since it was setup just after the Emperors final death. The Protectorate has been leaderless since the Emperor has it leader Grand Moff Ardus Kaine killed. Even without Grand Moff Ardus Kaine leading the Pentastar Alignment, the Pentastar Alignment is able to function just as well without Grand Moff Kaine than with him.

The Pentastar Alignment controls twenty sectors making the Pentastar Alignment the second largest Imperial factions after Admiral Gilad Pellaeon (Grand Admiral Teshik) Imperial faction. The Pentastar Alignment controls a large military force including twenty fully equipped sector groups, before his death, Grand Moff Kaine had set about building up the Pentastar Alignment's military forces, this process has been continued even after his death at the hands of one of the late Emperors agents.

One of the first targets for Grand Admiral Teshik, via Admiral Pellaeon, will be the Pentastar Alignment, however, rather than attacking the Protectorate, Grand Admiral Teshik will attempt to negotiate with the Pentastar Alignment to form an alliance against any possible threat.

The Board currently runs the Pentastar Alignment The Board consists of those members that Grand Moff Kaine recruited to help him create the Pentastar Alignment. These come from the various political and business leaders of the twenty sectors that make up the current size of the Pentastar Alignment.

The Board is headed by the current Chairman Koron Mzdale the former head of Galentro Heavy Works he is currently in secret discussions (with the rest of the board's approval) with Admiral Pellaeon about merging with Admiral Pellaeon, thus creating the most powerful remaining Imperial faction.

This initial deal that will that has been put forward is that the board will run the civil affairs and Admiral Pellaeon will run the military side, of course, what the board do not know is that Admiral Pellaeon is not the true command of the forces he "controls", the board members "strings" and being quietly pulled by Teshik.

Teshik is quite happy for the board to run the board to run the civil affairs in the combined Empire Teshik is simply having Admiral Pellaeon play hardball with the board. So that the board will think that, they have managed to get the concession to run the civil affairs off their combined fifty sectors after a lot of hard negotiating.

After several months of hard negotiating an agreement is reached between Admiral Pellaeon and the board, the two Imperial factions are now one large faction. The news of the alliance between the two largest Imperial factions catches everyone by surprise, the various remain Imperial factions will keep clear of this new Imperial alliance. The New Republic will also give this Imperial alliance a wide birth, as this alliance between the two largest Imperial factions has not launched any attacks against the New Republic.

The name of these two Imperial factions that of "The Imperial Alliance" will not remain for long, it will soon be changed to something more permanent, to just The Empire, a foreboding of things to come, that neither the other Imperials nor the New Republic is yet aware of.

After the Pentastar Alignment joins with Admiral Pellaeon (Grand Admiral Teshik) command, the board turns over control of their prized possession the Executor class star dreadnought Reaper, to Admiral Pellaeon as his flagship.

Admiral Pellaeon new flagship is the Executor class star dreadnought Reaper, this ship was formally the flagship of Grand Moff Ardus Kaine, Kaine used it as a command ship for his Scourge Squadron. When Grand Moff Kaine created the Pentastar Alignment, just after battle Endor and the death of the Emperor, this impressive warship would be Admiral Pellaeon flagship rather than Grand Admiral Teshik, as the Reaper draws too much attention for Teshik to use the Reaper as his flagship.

On Grand Admiral Teshik instructions, Admiral Pellaeon is referring to his command as The Empire, nothing else.

Grand Admiral Teshik now controls fifty sectors and he has managed to do this without firing a single shot, quite an achievement even for a Grand Admiral, Teshik will even receive a "bonus" from one of the Imperial Warlords, General Delvardus, who has figured out that Admiral Pellaeon is not the true commander of these fifty sectors.

Though General Delvardus is unaware that it is Grand Admiral (he soon will be), he is aware that whoever controls this growing Imperial military force is a force to be reckoned with, his own command is not powerful enough to withstand an attack by these combined Imperial forces. Therefore, General Delvardus has decided to ally himself with Admiral Pellaeon, or whoever is really commanding these forces, Delvardus has does have a single and very powerful asset at his command to ensure that he is not killed after joining with Admiral Pellaeon, or whoever is really commanding.

**Imperial Warlord, "Superior" General Sander Delvardus**

On the other side of the coin, one Imperial Warlord that caught Grand Admiral Teshik attention, this is General Delvardus, as General Delvardus is known to have been diverting massive amounts of credits into a secret project. Although initial (covert) inspections of his headquarters revealed only a superficially imposing stone fortress in a canyon on an unknown, arid planet, with relatively modest garrison, commanded by Colonel Cronus.

In fact, Delvardus had been hoarding resources perhaps for many years to finance one of the most spectacular military projects undertaken after Endor. The construction of a new highly customised Executor class star dreadnought, equipped with modifications like black stealth-armour and extensive slave circuitry a ship Delvardus named the Night Hammer.

General Delvardus is no fool, though he does not have a large fleet of warships, he has very good intelligence sources to keep an eye on the other Imperial factions to warn him if another Imperial faction is about to attack his holdings, so far this has not happened.

General Delvardus is studying a report handed to him by his second in command Colonel Cronus, Delvardus says, "Are you certain of this report Colonel?"

Colonel Cronus replies, "Yes sir, it has been triple checked against several other sources that we have."

Delvardus says, "A surviving Grand Admiral, none other than Osvald Teshik. This is an interesting twist, commanding Thrawn's former holdings as well. No wonder none of the other Imperials could crack Thrawn's holdings, they thought that they were dealing this Vice Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, not an Imperial Grand Admiral, no wonder the Pentastar Alignment has joined his command."

Colonel Cronus replies, "Yes sir, according to reports the military production levels in these fifty sectors that are now under Teshik command are increasing their production levels at an alarming rate, it is estimated that within a year or so Teshik will be able to go on the offensive."

Delvardus looking at the report and says, "I agree, I doubt that any of the individual Imperial Warlords would be able to deal with Teshik, even combined it would be a tough fight."

Colonel Cronus asks, "Sir, what should we do, should we evacuate?"

Delvardus looks at Colonel Cronus and says, "Evacuate, were to, Teshik would track us down. I know Teshik during my time in the Imperial Centre, even after his failure, the Emperor did not have him killed or even stripped of his rank, all he lost was the bulk of his fleet, for the Emperor that was a mild punishment for failure."

Colonel Cronus says nothing in reply, as he can see that Delvardus is thinking hard about what to do next. After several minutes General Delvardus has come to only one conclusion, that if Teshik is alive Teshik will start reuniting the various Imperial factions, if some of those faction Warlords do not join they will be eliminated. General Delvardus may have a very large ego, however even he recognises the threat an Imperial Grand Admiral posses to him.

General Delvardus says, "If we are to survive, we must join with Grand Admiral Teshik, I will place myself under his command."

Colonel Cronus is quite surprised and asks, "Sir, what if Grand Admiral Teshik just kills you and then takes what he wants?"

General Delvardus shakes his head and replies, "No Colonel, that is not Teshik style, he would not do that. Now we much make covert contact via Vice Admiral Pellaeon, we must not let our fellow Warlords know what we know."

Colonel Cronus replies, "Yes sir, I will see to it right away."

**Chimaera**

A few weeks ago, Admiral Pellaeon had received news that General Delvardus wished to join with Admiral Pellaeon command, which had surprised Admiral Pellaeon, he had immediately informed Teshik of the news. Teshik had agreed to the rendezvous, he would come along as an observer, watch via a hidden camera, and see what happens.

Now that Chimaera waited at the rendezvous point for General Delvardus to arrive, the Chimaera had arrived early just in case this was a trap, when the Chimaera had dropped out of hyperspace a detailed scan had reviled nothing, this did not appear to be a trap.

Right on time General Delvardus heavily armoured shuttle drops out of hyperspace and soon lands within the Chimaera hander bay.

Soon both General Delvardus and Admiral Pellaeon are in negotiations about General Delvardus joining with Admiral Pellaeon, though what Admiral Pellaeon does not know is that General Delvardus is aware that Grand Admiral Teshik is the real command of the Empire.

After the initial discussions Admiral Pellaeon asks, "Well General Delvardus do you wish to join with me against the Rebels?"

General Delvardus smiles at Admiral Pellaeon, this is something that General Delvardus has not done throughout their talks, General Delvardus replies, "Admiral Pellaeon, I know that you are not the true leader of these forces, were is Grand Admiral Teshik, I would talk with him."

Admiral Pellaeon is stunned by General Delvardus remarks as is unable to say anything for a few moments then says, "I do not know what you are talking about General."

General Delvardus who is still smiling and now looking around the room states, "I would assume that Grand Admiral Teshik is onboard and monitoring this conversation?"

This time Admiral Pellaeon quickly replies, "No you are wrong General."

**Viewing Room**

In the room next to the meeting room, Grand Admiral Teshik has been watching the exchange between General Delvardus and Admiral Pellaeon, Teshik is slightly surprised that General Delvardus states that he is aware that Teshik is alive.

Teshik thinks to himself that General Delvardus must have a good bargaining chip to play that hand so early on I wonder what it is.

Teshik gets up and opens the door between the viewing room and the room were General Delvardus and Admiral Pellaeon are meeting.

**Meeting Room**

As Teshik enters the room, Admiral Pellaeon and General Delvardus stand to attention this confirms General Delvardus reports that Teshik is alive. Teshik indicates for both of them to be seated.

Teshik without any preamble asks, "General Delvardus what can you bring to my command?"

General Delvardus replies, "Sir, I can bring two assets, firstly I have a good intelligence network within the various Imperial Warlords."

Teshik replies, "That would be very useful in dealing with the various Imperial factions, however not much use against the true enemy, the Rebels."

General Delvardus continues, "Sir, the second, is a customize version of an Executor class star destroyer, this I have named the Night Hammer, I would give this warship to you sir as your new command ship." Then taking out a small data stick and placing it in the holo display, this then shows the general characteristics of the Night Hammer.

After studying the Night Hammer on the display and thinking about the usefulness of the intelligence information that General Delvardus intelligence network could be, Teshik says, "Welcome back to the Empire, General Delvardus."

General Delvardus smile grows and he replies, "Thank you sir"

Teshik says, "As you have an intelligence network I will place you in charge of gaining the most information you can on our fellow Imperials, along with the Rebels. Though Imperial Intelligence is already doing this, it will be useful to have a second source of information in these matters, for verification purposes. You will have you own branch of Imperial Military Intelligence specifically to gain intelligence on the various Imperial Warlords, after that a sector command would be appropriate for you General."

General Delvardus replies, "Yes sir, thank you sir, I won't let you down sir."

Over the next hour they go into details on how this will work, though General Delvardus is glad his plan has worked, he knows that Teshik will not break this deal.

Within a few weeks Grand Admiral Teshik will take the Night Hammer as his new flagship, with Captain Frisk becoming the Captain of the Night Hammer, the Eleemosynary will remain as part of Teshik command squadron. The former crew of the Night Hammer will be transferred to other warships in Teshik fleet they will be replaced by more loyal crewmembers, mostly clones, along with the Night Hammer being checked for any booby traps (none have been placed) Delvardus is not stupid to do something like that.

The aligning of the two largest Imperial factions has not gone unnoticed by the other Imperial factions and the New Republic.

**Imperial Faction, The ****Protectorate**

In the Protectorate, the news of the combining of the two largest Imperial factions attracts the attention of both Lord Brandl a former Imperial Inquisitor and the commanded of the military forces of the Protectorate, Fleet Admiral Feyet Kiez.

Both are worried by this move, there is nothing that the forces of the Protectorate can do about this situation, therefore Admiral Kiez merely goes about planning for a possible attack against the Protectorate, along with the possibility of reinforcing the defenses of the Protectorate.

They are unaware of General Delvardus faction joining with Teshik or even that Teshik is alive, though Lord Brandl does have certain suspicions, but nothing he can convert into solid proof.

For now, all they can do is continue to build up the Protectorate's defenses, wait, and watch.

To be continued.


	8. Chapter 8

**8. The Protectorate**

_"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."_ Winston Churchill

The Protectorate is a neutral government led by the former Imperial Inquisitor Adalric Cessius Brandl, and his son Jaalib Brandl. After the Emperor's final death, the Brandl's carved out their own little piece of space and placed it under protection from a number of elite Imperial II class star destroyers under Lord Brandl's control. The basis of the group was to maintain a strong military presence in the face of the New Republic and to protect the Brandl's home world of Trulalis from outside influence.

The space that the Protectorate controls is very small and lightly populated, with the exception of the Brandl's home world of Trulalis. The resources available to the Protectorate are quite large as the area of space around Trulalis that the Protectorate controls is largely untapped of its abundant resources.

**Trulalis**

Trulalis is a planet in the Issor system, the planet was known for its theater and its economic wealth. The populace was almost eliminated by the Galactic Empire. It is the home world of Adalric Cessius Brandl and his son, Jaalib Brandl. Adalric trained Jaalib as an actor in addition to how to use the force on the depopulated world. Adalric would train Fable Astin in the Jedi arts, intending to turn her to the dark side of the Force and give her to Emperor Palpatine on Byss during the Emperor return.

Adalric tricked Astin into murdering Vialco, his nemesis, but Jaalib helped Astin escape Trulalis. As punishment, Adalric gave Jaalib to the Emperor instead. Ironically, Jaalib was made the new apprentice of Antinnis Tremayne, up until the Emperors final death then the Brandl's returned to Trulalis.

Now the Brandl's rule the Protectorate that includes Issor system, with Trulalis being the capital of the Protectorate, in addition the Protectorate controls two other systems that are in close proximity to the Issor system. These two systems are uninhabited, but a very rich in mineral wealth, a proportion of the Protectorates military are assigned to guard these two systems, along with escorting freighters from these two systems back to Trulalis for the raw materials to be processed.

In a very short period of time since the death of the Emperor, Trulalis has become a very wealthy planet, for a population of only ten million. The Brandl's have restricted the incoming peoples to those that were born on Trulalis all others are turned away, usually by force. These restrictions have led to Trulalis becoming an almost crime free planet, as any crime that has been committed is usually picked up by the Brandl's and hunted down, as no one can escape a Dark Side force user.

The New Republic has not bothered to try to send spies to Trulalis, as this would be pointless, as the Brandl's through the dark side of the force would pick this up very quickly in addition there are no former residents of Trulalis in service with the New Republic, as nearly all of them have returned home.

**The Protectorates Military**

The commander of Lord Brandl's is Fleet Admiral Feyet Kiez who commands the Imperial II class star destroyer Empire, this star destroyer was the prototype of the Imperial II class line. Admiral Kiez was given command of the Empire three years prior to the Battle of Yavin, the very first Imperial II class star destroyer. Then he was assigned to patrol hyperspace lanes in search of Rebel Alliance warships and eliminate them. Kiez was promoted to full Fleet Admiral just before the Battle of Yavin. After the final death of the Emperor, Fleet Admiral Feyet Kiez took his battle group of warships and joined with Lord Brandl.

No one knows why Admiral Kiez joined with Lord Brandl, however this elite Imperial military force is more than a match for any attacking force against the Protectorate.

The crew of the Empire were handpicked, and said to be among the finest serving in the fleet (prior to Endor and after), mainly because Admiral Kiez did not execute every crewmember that made the slightest mistake, as Lord Vader did, this would allow the crew of the Empire to learn from their mistakes.

The Empire has shielding superior to later (production) Imperial II class star destroyers. The primary task of the Empire is deep space combat and is equipped with two full wings of starfighters (144) for that task, these fighters are the TIE/ad starfighter or TIE Advanced also nicknamed TIE Avenger. The Empire carries a reduced level of planetary assault equipment that a standard ISD would normally carry to make room for the reinforced number of starfighters.

The TIE/ad starfighter or TIE Advanced was the accumulation of a series of starfighter designs first explored with Darth Vader's TIE Advanced x1. To avoid confusion with Lord Vader's personal craft, the version is known by its nickname the TIE Avenger. On the planet of Trulalis a TIE Avenger production line has been set-up, a number of former elite TIE pilots have joined the Protectorate, as it allows them to fly these advanced starfighters and increase the number of kills they have.

Other advanced TIE designs, can be produced by the Protectorate in limited numbers, including the TIE Defender, Scimitar assault bomber, TIE Hunter to name but a few. The Protectorate has also been able to acquire a limited number of Rebel starfighters, such as the X-Wing for aggressor training this is something that the Empire does not normally do, though Admiral Kiez is not a normal Imperial Fleet Admiral, as he thinks outside of the box.

Some state that Admiral Kiez would have become a Grand Admiral in due course, due to Admiral Kiez skill as a leader and a tactician. Admiral Kiez mentor was Grand Admiral Teshik and in many ways Kiez takes after his mentor, this makes Kiez a very dangerous opponent. One of the few things that few people know is that Kiez was offered the command of an Executor class, but turned it down to keep command of the ISDII Empire, as Kiez viewed the Executor class as "parade ground" warships, not much use in a fast moving battle.

Incorporating the previous successes of the TIE series starfighters, along with those of the Rebel Alliance, the TIE Avenger was one of the first production starfighters to break away from the Imperial doctrine of quantity over quality. Incorporating deflector shields, a hyperdrive and warhead launchers, it was also significantly faster and more maneuverable than any existing Imperial or Rebel starfighter, so enemy pilots nicknamed these starfighters "brights".

No one goes near the Protectorate without having some business on the world of Trulalis, if they do and do not have a reason to be there, at best they are imprisoned or at worst they are killed. The population of Trulalis is not repressed in any way as the Brandls are restoring Trulalis to its former grandeur, with the population fully supporting the Brandls in their efforts to rebuild Trulalis to its former wealthy status (greed is a very powerful motivator).

In orbit around Trulalis, Lord Adalric Cessius Brand has managed to acquire an orbital shipyard/dry-dock facility that is able to maintain Admiral Kiez naval forces. With the population happily volunteering for Imperial service to defend their home system and not going on some mad attempted conquest of the galaxy, leaving the New Republic with a big problem, as the population in a fair election have elected the Brandls as their leaders. This means that the New Republic cannot lawfully interfere with the democratic decisions of Trulalis (as per the New Republics charter) or the two other systems under the Brandls control.

The main warships of Admiral Kiez battle fleet currently consists of the following

15 Imperial II class star destroyers (including the Empire)

25 Victory II class star destroyers

50 Vindicator class heavy cruisers

2 Interdictor class star destroyers

200 Rendili StarDrive light corvettes, also commonly known as the Imperial Customs corvette

The Imperial II class star destroyers are divided into three groups of five ships, one group per system, with the other warships of Admiral Kiez battle fleet are either assisting in guarding one of the three systems or on patrol or escorting freighters laden with raw materials to Trulalis for processing. Admiral Kiez battle fleet also includes those system defense forces, such as the IPV-1 system patrol vessel and other none hyperdrive equipped system defense ships.

Compared to other Imperials Admiral Kiez battle fleet is relatively small, the crews of his warships however are highly trained, with all of the captains and the crews of the warships in Admiral Kiez battle fleet being combat veterans.

Early on, Lord Brandl had briefly changed the rules on only people borne on Trulalis can return, to ones that include the families of the Imperial military personnel guarding Trulalis, who are not borne on Trulalis. The small change is only temporary until the families of those Imperial military personnel are made citizens of Trulalis, then the law is revoked, not allowing any other none borne Trulalis to become citizens.

This temporary change in the law has boosted the population of Trulalis by over 500,000 and improving the morale of the Imperial military of those who were not born on Trulalis. This is what Lord Brandl had intended to do in the first place, by the small temporary change in the immigration law of Trulalis.

After all, it gives his troops a much better reason to fight for the defiance of Trulalis, if they are fighting to protect their families.

**Eighteen Months Later**

Eighteen months after rescuing his son and with the Protectorates wealth is growing at an incredible rate, along with a newly signed peace treaty with the New Republic, the Protectorates future seems secure.

Like the Light Side of the force, the Dark Side can show the possible futures that exist, of not only the user, but also wider ranging events.

Lord Brandl was meditating in his quarters, thinking about the recent peace deal between the Protectorate and the New Republic, smiling to himself he thought of the moment all those months ago that he had brought up the idea to a representative of the New Republics government. The New Republic diplomat that this peace deal that had been proposed to, for once in his life was lost for words, Lord Brandl smiled darkly at that memory.

After that it had only taken a few months to iron out the details, he had left that in the capable hands of Admiral Kiez and his staff. Lord Brandl had worked alongside Admiral Kiez for a long time, when he had issued the order for a peace deal between the Protectorate and the New Republic, all Admiral Kiez said in reply was "Yes my Lord" then set about his task.

It had only taken a month of negotiations before the peace deal was reach between the New Republic and the Protectorate. Now that peace had been achieved, Lord Brandl along with Admiral Kiez had set about the task of rebuilding the world of Trulalis, into what is once was.

The one part of his vision that scared him more than anything is the part where he is standing next to the command chair on the bridge of a star destroyer, every time he looks down at the man in the chair. He sees the man in the chair wearing the uniform of an Imperial Grand Admiral.

The Grand Admiral looks as him and he recognizes the face of Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik, this part is the worst for Adalric Cessius Brandl as he feels as though he must obey Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik. These visions since the final death of the Emperor have unnerved Adalric Brandl, as he thought he was free of the old Empire, but now it seems as if his destiny is linked in some way to Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik.

In another part of his vision Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik appears to be young again, without any of his cybernetic body parts.

After all, he knows that Teshik is alive, though he does not understand how he can be young again, as he knows that Teshik still has his cybernetic body parts, this has led him to meditate on these visions, so far, this has not helped, but Adalric Brandl is persisting.

Adalric Brandl assumes that he is misinterpreting his visions in some way, but he is not, the truth will soon become clear to Adalric Brandl.

Outside that building, he could sense his son practicing with his lightsaber, he had taught is son the ways of the force, but rather than concentrating on either the light or dark side, he has simply taught him the ways of the force. He would allow his son to find his own way via the force, rather than force his son in either direction his son would find his own destiny.

As it seems that, his son's destiny lies along a different path.

**Jaalib Brandl,**** Practicing**

Jaalib Brandl was practicing his lightsaber technique that his father had shown him, however rather than being inside while practicing (like his father) Jaalib Brandl preferred to practice outside, in public. The first few times people tended to stay away, however as time went by his practice sessions grew along with the audience numbers, especially when he was practicing against training remotes firing stun plasma bolts, which Jaalib would deflect with his lightsaber while being blindfolded or covered up by a practice helm.

He had started with one remote, but after a few days of practicing against one remote, he found that it is too easy, he then added another, then another, nearly two years later he could now easily hold his own against more than twenty training remotes, without breaking sweat.

Jaalib Brandl now used this type of basic training to help him concentrate, he could perform acrobatics and feats that no normal being could perform, he can lift objects many times his own weight. He can also hold his breath for several hours using the force (dark and light sides) he considers himself to be good, but not the best, yet.

Jaalib Brandl thinks to himself that he is a performer after all he should put on a good show for his audience and a good performance requires lots of practice.

Soon a new Imperial Fleet Admiral will emerge, this will change the fortunes of several Imperial factions located within the Deep Core.

**New Republic**

The New Republic has made gains in many areas since the final death of the Emperor two years ago the New Republic is still unaware that it is Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik, who is leading this growing Imperial faction under the 'command' of Admiral Pellaeon. The New Republic has tried several times to bring down this Imperial faction, but each time they have failed.

In the two years since the Emperors final death, the New Republic has made significant gains, however several of large Imperial factions are proving very hard to deal with. The Imperial forces within the Deep Core are the hardest to remove as the hyperspace lanes into that area of space are unknown to the New Republic.

The other is the Imperial Fortress Systems, the Imperial Fortress Systems are systems that have been massively protected, the planets within a single system that have been fortified to an extreme level, most of which are designed to serve as military and political strongholds of various Imperial faction leaders.

Two years after the final death of the Emperor, the New Republic would retake most of the territory lost during the Emperors return there are a few exceptions. This being the territory controlled by Admiral Pellaeon (Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik), along with the Deep Core Imperial Warlords and the Imperial Fortress Warlords scattered throughout the galaxy.

A kind of odd peace would settle across the galaxy with the various Imperial factions and the New Republic in an unofficial form of ceasefire. The New Republic government led by Mon Mothma is quite happy that the various Imperial factions have "quietened down", Mon Mothma is even hopeful that a peace deal may be possible, like the one between the New Republic and the Protectorate may one day encompass all the various Imperial factions.

The joining of the two largest Imperial factions into one faction is seen as worrying however New Republic intelligence has indicated that the new Imperial faction, is not planning an attack. This Imperial faction appears to be digging in, though this is what Grand Admiral Teshik wants the New Republic to think.

The other Imperial factions seem more intent on attacking each other than the New Republic, with most of the other Imperial Factions being based within the Deep Core, though there are a few other scattered around the galaxy as well.

This peace would not last very long as a long lost project by the former Grand Moff Tarkin was about to be awakened by the New Republic.

Just over two years after the final death of the Emperor, on a trip to Kessel, Han Solo, and Chewbacca would stumble upon a secret research facility setup by Tarkin after making an emergency escape from Kessel.

They would unleash Fleet Admiral Natasi Daala on the galaxy.

**Fleet Admiral Natasi Daala**

Just over two years after the final death of the Emperor, Kyp Durron, Han Solo, and Chewbacca stumbled upon the facility after making an emergency escape from Kessel. She interrogated them, and was stunned to learn that Tarkin and Emperor Palpatine were dead and the Empire was on the verge of collapse, having been defeated by the Rebels. Daala decided to launch her campaign to wreak havoc on the galaxy and gain revenge for Tarkin's death, with her 4 star destroyers and the Sun Crusher super weapon.

However, the Sun Crusher was stolen (later destroyed) from Daala's command by Solo and his two companions, who were able to warn the New Republic of Daala's existence, ultimately, Daala accomplished little, and with three of her star destroyers destroyed, headed back to the Maw to try to protect it from the New Republic. There, she found New Republic forces that attacked her fleet. Though she managed to destroy the Installation, preventing the New Republic from gaining new weapons, her star destroyer was damaged and she made an emergency hyperspace jump.

A year after Daala's failed campaign, Daala had been attempting to unify the Imperial warlords that occupy the systems of the Deep Core, but found little success. She executed them then took command of their forces. She once again attempted to destroy the New Republic. However, she was defeated and withdrew back to the Deep Core there Daala set about rebuilding and expanding her military forces within the Deep Core.

It was at this time that Daala was reunited with her former lover Liegeus Vorn; the two married and later would have a son.

The New Republic believed Fleet Admiral Natasi Daala was dead.

Three years after Daala's return and five years after the final death of the Emperor, her military forces are now growing once again within the protected area of the Deep Core, after Daala had eliminated the various Imperial Warlords and united there forces under her command. The Deep Core is a small region in the galaxy, about seven thousand light years across that hid some very unusual worlds. The Deep Core was home to some thirty billion of the galaxy's oldest stars, and at its centre was a massive black hole surrounded by antimatter and dense clusters where stars were only a hundredth of a light year apart.

In some areas the stars were in such close proximity, the stars would collide and rip the cores from each other. Due to the gravitational pull of the vast number of stars, local space-time was severely warped, making hyperspace travel difficult at best. The region was thought to be inaccessible, but Emperor Palpatine found safe hyperlanes into the region, such as the Byss Run and the Deep Core Run.

The Deep Core Security Zone is a restricted area of Imperial space in the Deep Core that included the planet Byss within the Beshqek system. Despite the Imperial Centre being the seat of Emperor Palpatine's power, evidence seems to point to the Security Zone having always been an easily defended fallback position for the Galactic Empire.

Admiral Daala forces now consist of sixty Imperial II class star destroyers, along with 205 Victory II class star destroyers along with several thousand warships of various different types along with various types of support vessels. Admiral Daala is moving much more slowly this time and is prepared to wait until her forces are strong enough to launch a concerted attack against the Rebels.

This area of the galaxy remains an Imperial stronghold under the leadership of Fleet Admiral Natasi Daala.

Admiral Daala has been watched by Grand Admiral Teshik, who has been waiting until his forces are ready to strike (Teshik will be ready much sooner than Daala), also his new clone body is now ready for him. The only comment that Teshik made about Daala, was to Captain Frisk, in that he referred to Daala as Tarkins "pet", due to her two failed attacks against the New Republic, by using Tarkins out of date tactics.

Teshik considered Daala a good distraction for the New Republic, while he refined his own plans for his coming attack against these Rebels, then he would show the galaxy what a Grand Admiral could really do with a proper military force.

Soon a reborn (clone) of Grand Admiral Teshik will reveal himself to the galaxy.

To be continued.


	9. Chapter 9

**9. Grand Admiral Teshik, Reborn**

Authors Note: this part takes heavily from "The Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy", third book 'Tyrant's Test'.

_"The price of greatness is responsibility."_ Winston Churchill

Onboard the Eleemosynary (with the other warships of his command squadron now guarding the Eleemosynary), in Teshik former entertainment suite his clone was now at full maturity, the Spaarti cloning cylinder had done a great job of producing an excellent clone of him.

Teshik was ready, he had informed Captain Frisk that is was time for him to clone himself, Captain Frisk had wished Teshik luck. Then the medical droids had downloaded a copy of Teshik memories into the clone then the medical droids placed Teshik in a drug induced coma, after that the medical droids began the activation process for the clone.

As Teshik is placed in a drug-induced coma by the medical droids, he succumbs to the darkness that is the last thing that Teshik remembers.

**Three Hours Later**

To Teshik it only seems as though he has been un-concise for a few moments, as Teshik opens his eyes, he sees the medical droids scanning him then after a few moments he asks, "Did the procedure not work then?"

When he has asks that question it is not though his voice box, but through is restored vocal cords of his new clone body, Teshik is puzzled for a few moments, then realizes that he is in his clone body, as soon as he does realize that he laughs aloud. He thinks to himself, that this is a very odd sensation.

The medical droid replies, "Grand Admiral Teshik, the transfer appears to be a success." Then after a few moments of scanning Teshik, the medical droid says, "according to my scans all your memories have been successfully transferred into your new body."

Teshik is stunned on what he has been able to achieve then he says to the medical droid, "Inform Captain Frisk that the procedure has been a success."

The medical droid immediately informs Captain Frisk of the success of the transfer of Teshik from his "old" bold to his "new" body. After a few weeks, Teshik terminates his old body, Teshik old body will be kept for its genetic material frozen in Carbonite, just in case a new clone body is needed.

Over the next few weeks, Teshik is getting used to his new body and re-growing his beard, along with being briefed on the state of his command this is always with a medical droid in attendance. Teshik initially does not leave his quarters, until the medical droids have confirmed that his new body has settled in.

After that, Grand Admiral Teshik returns to his duties as commander of his growing Empire.

Grand Admiral Teshik is still getting used to his new clone body, he is enjoying his new clone body, Teshik keeps thinking top himself that it is good to have a proper body again, without the rebuild that he had after suffering his near fatal injuries all those years ago.

With his new body, Grand Admiral Teshik has got his "second wind", his new body has been aged up to his mid twenty's, Teshik feels that he now is ready to reveal himself to the galaxy and to begin his offensive against both the remaining Imperial factions and the New Republic.

Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron now consists of the Night Hammer, the Eleemosynary and the four Victory II class star destroyers, a formidable command squadron even without a Grand Admiral commanding it.

However as with all plans, things will not go as Grand Admiral Teshik had anticipated, with the emergence of the Yevetha from within the Koornacht Cluster will change everything.

This will lead to Grand Admiral Teshik intervening in what would become known as the Koornacht Cluster War, along with an unforeseen bonus for Grand Admiral Teshik growing military forces.

Shortly before the beginning of the Koornacht Cluster War Princess Leia has become President of the New Republic. The New Republic is still unaware that there is a Grand Admiral leading the biggest Imperial faction.

**Koornacht Cluster**

When the Galactic Empire expanded into the Koornacht Cluster following the end of the Clone Wars, they discovered the Yevetha species and noted the Yevetha's rapid ability to learn new skills. The Imperials subjugated the Yevethan homeworld of N'zoth and its nearby star systems, built the Black 15 shipyards and put the Yevetha to work as skilled slave labor building, repairing and modifying vessels of the Imperial Navy.

About eight months after the Battle of Endor, the Imperial garrison at N'zoth was ordered to retreat and destroy the repair yard. Before they could initiate their withdrawal, an assault led by chief commando Nil Spaar took advantage of the Empire's view of the Yevetha as mindless labour and seized control of the vessels undergoing repairs, the operational warships and the yards.

All Imperials where either killed or enslaved by the Yevetha, for the next thirteen years those that had been enslaved would be forced to help the Yevetha build up the former Imperial warships of the Black Sword Command.

Over the next decade and a half, the Yevetha developed their technical capabilities, developed advanced technologies in the form of starship shielding, gravity bombs, Aramadia-class thrustships and D-type fighters. They established the Duskhan League, which grew to encompass thirteen worlds.

The Dushkan League came out of its isolation to engage the New Republic, which was enjoying a period of peace marked by increased member applications, economic prosperity and military innovation, as well as the development of a bloated and divided bureaucracy. A delegation led by now-Viceroy Nil Spaar arrived at Coruscant, supposedly to seek a peaceful coexistence. Given their xenophobia and view of all non-Yevethan species as 'Vermin' however, it is more likely that they were there on a mission to sow confusion and disruption prior to their planned war of extermination.

Finally, Nil Spaar returned to his people, and with the New Republic in disarray, the Yevetha launched a campaign of brutal expansion and colonization through the use of the lost ships of Black Sword Command. The Yevethan Purge, called the Great Purge, the Cleansing or Second Birth by the Yevetha, saw the elimination of entire species like the Corasgh and communities like the Norat Sovereignty, and the colonization of many nearby star systems in the Koornacht Cluster. Plat Mallar, a novice Grannan pilot, would be the sole survivor of one of these raids on his home planet of Polneye and would later become the face of the Great Purge.

**Koornacht Cluster War**

When the news reached Grand Admiral Teshik that most of the Imperial military and civilian personnel had been massacred by the Yevetha, he knew that the Yevetha were a greater threat that the New Republic and must be dealt with first.

His plans needed to be amended.

Grand Admiral Teshik says to Captain Frisk, "Captain, prepare my fleet, we go to the Koornacht Cluster, we must teach these Yevetha a lesson, that murdering Imperial citizens cannot be allowed to go unanswered."

Captain Frisk replies, "Yes sir, if I may ask, what about the planned attack against the New Republic and the remaining Imperial Warlords?"

Grand Admiral Teshik says, "Captain, we can do both at the same time, the victory against the Yevetha will prove to the remaining Imperials that I am really Grand Admiral Teshik and it will make the New Republic pause before they respond. This should give us more than enough time to eliminate the Yevetha as a threat and secure the Koornacht Cluster for the Empire."

Captain Frisk nods with understanding and replies, "Yes sir, I will begin the preparations right away."

Three days late Grand Admiral Teshik has been supplemented by an assault fleet making his fleet more than powerful enough to deal with the Yevetha, Grand Admiral Teshik will leave Admiral Pellaeon behind to manage the defences of his Empire.

**Night Hammer**

Onboard the Night Hammer, Captain Frisk is reporting the forces that the Yevetha may possess, "Admiral, the Koornacht Cluster was the command headquarters for the Black Sword Command and at least five Type II orbital repair yards were built throughout Black Sword Command to provide localized maintenance and shipbuilding facilities. From Imperial Intelligence records of the Black Sword Command at the time of Endor, Imperial Fleet Command seems to have lost track of five front-line capital ships and thirty-nine others undergoing construction and/or repair. None seem to be smaller than a Victory-class star destroyer, and they included three Executor class star dreadnoughts that were supposedly under construction at the time of Endor/."

Grand Admiral Teshik looks at Captain Frisk and says, "That many warships can't simply go missing?"

Captain Frisk replies, "I agree sir, most of these warships that were 'under construction' had not been started yet, only one Executor class had begun construction at the time of Endor, after that there are no records available. I doubt that the Yevetha could have constructed more than one Executor class in the time that they have had since Endor."

Grand Admiral Teshik nods at Captain Frisk and says, "I agree with your assessment Captain, we will have a fight on our hands never the less." What Teshik does not know is that a surviving Imperial officer Major Sil Sorannan along with the remaining Imperials of the Black Sword Command has a plan to take back all the Imperial warships, when the New Republic attacks the Yevetha. However, it will not be the New Republic attacking the Yevetha Major Sil Sorannan will be in for a bit of a surprise.

Major Sil Sorannan is currently unaware of the impending Imperial attack, when it does come he will implement his plan and Grand Admiral Teshik will get a bonus of over 60 Imperial warship, none smaller that a Victory class star destroyer/

For now, Grand Admiral Teshik is preparing himself mentally for the speech he must give within the next few hours.

**Announcement**

Four years after the final death of the Emperor, Grand Admiral Teshik is ready to announce his return and begin his formal campaign against both the remaining Imperial Warlords and against the Rebels.

At the edge of the Koornacht Cluster, the Imperial battle fleet led by the Night Hammer is awaiting the go command from Grand Admiral Teshik.

On the bridge, Grand Admiral Teshik says, "Captain Frisk, commence the break in to the holonet system, for a galaxy wide broadcast."

Captain Frisk replies, "Aye sir, commencing now" indicating towards the communications pit to start the transmission.

After a few moments, Captain Frisk states, "Ready Admiral"

In front of holonet unit, Grand Admiral Teshik starts, "This is Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik of Galactic Empire to the Yevetha, you are here by ordered to surrender immediately or face extinction. If by the time by Imperial forces enter the Koornacht Cluster your forces are not surrendering they will be destroyed. This will also be considered an act of war against the Empire."

As Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik continues his broadcast, across the galaxy it is being watch by many factions.

On Coruscant, the New Republic Senate is watching Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik broadcast.

**New Republic Capital, Coruscant**

Princess Leia along with the rest of the New Republics Senate is watching Grand Admiral Teshik broadcast in stunned silence as Grand Admiral Teshik continues his speech. Princess Leia manages for a few moments to glance around the Senate and sees that all eyes are fixated on the image of Grand Admiral Teshik in his white Grand Admirals uniform. As he speaks, Leia is felt compelled to listen, as there is something in the tone of his voice that compels her to listen.

Princess Leia thinks to herself, this is worrying, thinking to herself, I wonder how many other Grand Admirals are alive.

Once the broadcast is over, a few moments of absolute quite passes before the New Republics Senate erupts in an explosion of noise, as every senator wishes to speak at the same time and none seems to wish to give ground to any other senator.

Princess Leia thinks to herself, this is going to be a longer meeting than she had hoped for, Leia was going to inform the Senate that she was ordering in the New Republics Fifth Fleet, however now that idea did not seem very good. As the Fifth Fleet may bump into the Imperial fleet and the New Republic did not wish to restart hostilities with the Empire, after all the unofficial peace between the New Republic and the remaining parts of the Empire was still holding.

After several hours, Princess Leia had managed to get the New Republics Senate to agree that the New Republics Fifth Fleet should remain in the area of the Koornacht Cluster, but not to engage the Imperial forces unless fired upon first.

Now it is a waiting game for the New Republic on what Grand Admiral Teshik will do after dealing with the Yevetha.

**Admiral Daala's Flagship, ISD Firestorm, Deep Core**

Watching Grand Admiral Teshik broadcast from the bridge of her flagship, Daala is worried, she knows that she is not a match for an Imperial Grand Admiral.

Looking at the Captain of the Firestorm, Daala says, "Looks like the either Emperor cloned Grand Admiral Teshik or he survived the Battle of Endor." Daala is wrong about the Emperor cloning Teshik, but is right about surviving the Battle of Endor.

The Captain of the Firestorm replies, "Yes Admiral, it looks like this is a clone, would the clone be just as deadly as the original?"

Daala says, "Yes it would, just look how deadly the Emperors clone was."

The Captain of the Firestorm says nothing in reply, Daala continues, "We should be very careful in dealing with a Grand Admiral. Instruct all out forces to remain within the Deep Core for the time being and recall all ships that are currently outside of the Deep Core."

Captain of the Firestorm, replies, "Yes Admiral, I will get on to it right away."

As the Captain of the Firestorm goes about issuing Admiral Daala orders, Admiral Daala retires to her quarters to think what her next move will be.

Admiral Daala is assuming that Grand Admiral Teshik will be busy for some time with the Yevetha, on this point Admiral Daala is very wrong, as events will play out quite differently.

**Imperial Redemption**

The Yevetha had constructed a fleet of around sixty star destroyers plus hundreds of thrustships with these forces they initiated a genocide expansion through Koornacht, known as the Great Purge. However, the surviving Black Sword captives in Camp Pa'aal, led by Major Sil Sorannan, had devised a plan to take back their fleet, is was just a matter of timing.

As the Imperial Fleet intervened and confronted the Yevethan fleet, the Yevetha recalled the Imperials they had captured all those years ago to assist them in supervising their ships systems and operating technologies that they still did not fully understand. At the climax of the Battle of N'zoth, Sorannan and his men will execute a plan to simultaneously take control of every Imperial warship in Yevethan hands, echoing Nil Spaar's own plot years earlier.

Using slave circuits to quickly regain control of the remnants of Black Sword Command, Sorannan orders the Imperial ships into hyperspace away from the upcoming battle, completing their final order thirteen years after it had been issued.

Now Major Sil Sorannan will take the Black Fleet to Bilbringi and join with Grand Admiral Teshik, after all Teshik is the most senior Imperial left alive, the Black Fleet will make a powerful, addition to Teshik forces, once the warships have been stripped of all Yevetha technology.

**The Battle of N'zoth**

The Battle of N'zoth would be a much shorter affair than Grand Admiral Teshik anticipated, as soon as his battlefleet entered the N'zoth, the Imperial warships that makeup the Yevetha Fleet would depart the system.

**Pride of Yevetha's**

Onboard the Pride of Yevetha's Sil Sorannan witnessed the arrival of the Imperial fleet on the monitors in the flagship's fire control centre.

It was from flagship's fire control centre that Pride of Yevetha's individual weapons batteries would be assigned targets. Those targeting decisions were in the hands of the three Yevethan officers seated at the consoles in the pit. Sorannan's responsibility ended at maintaining the data server for the target registry and its electronic links throughout the ship.

Still, he studied the holographic image-map with as much intent devotion as three Yevethan officers seated at the consoles in the pit. As the first warships appeared, his hand slipped into his pocket and found the hard-toothed comb. He rubbed its spine like a worry-stone as the Imperial battle fleet grew and grew in numbers on his displays.

His respect for the attackers grew as well as he had listened to Grand Admiral Teshik warning, he thought to himself with a inwards smile, a Grand Admiral, the Yevetha are about to be slaughtered.

A frontal assault with overwhelming force that is the way war was meant to be fought, thought Sorannan admiringly, strength against strength not the weak and cowardly tactics of the Rebels.

As the Imperial fleet closed, Sorannan slid toward the leftmost section of his station and opened one of the several small service panels in its instrumented face. However, he did not yet pick up the hand-built blaster pistol resting inside atop the circuits. He was waiting for Nil Spaar's answer Teshik now that that Imperial fleet had entered the N'zoth system.

As the minutes dragged out and the distance between the fleets continued to shrink, Sil Sorannan brought the comb out of his pocket and ran it through his thinning red hair. He knew that Nil Spaar's silence was an expression of contempt for his adversaries, but he was also confident that the viceroy would not be able to resist expressing his contempt directly. Sorannan waited calmly for it to come.

But when the most powerful weapons on Pride of Yevetha on Intimidator, Sorannan reminded himself were only a minute away from being able to deliver an effective blow to the nearest of the Imperial warships, he could wait no longer. Holding the comb before him in both hands, he twisted it sharply, and it came apart in his hands. One of the pieces was a thin wand with three small buttons it had been hidden inside the comb's hollow spine.

Keeping his eye on both the proctors and the holo tracks, Sorannan moved the wand to his right hand and picked up the blaster in his left.

As he did so, Nil Spaar began to broadcast his answer of defiance to both fleets.

The viceroy says, "You are low and impure creatures, and your threats mean nothing to me. Your presence fouls the perfection of the all and offends the honour of the Blessed. I will rip the soft white bellies of your ships open and spill their disgusting entrails for all to see. Your lungs will thirst for air. Your blood will boil in your ears. Your pleas will go unanswered, and your screams will go unheard. Your bodies will fall into the sun and be consumed. You will be forgotten by your offspring, and your mates will bring new blood to their beds."

Watching the viceroy "speech", Sorannan thinks to himself, the viceroy is a fool, the Imperial fleet has your fleet out gunned three to one soon to be six to one. Without a flicker of change in his expression, he pressed the first two buttons on the wand with his thumb then he raises the blaster to shoulder level and begins to fire.

**Night Hammer**

Teshik listened to Nil Spaar's "speech" with his jaw set in a grim expression and the last flickers of hope dying in his eyes that the Viceroy would surrender his forces, though he had always thought in the back of his mind that it would come to this. Now there was only one outcome, extermination of the Yevetha.

Now it was time to show the Galaxy what a Grand Admiral with the proper resources could do.

To Captain Frisk, Grand Admiral Teshik says, "Well that is that Captain, this Viceroy is a fool, his fleet is greatly outnumbered and out gunned, the Viceroy will regret now not taking my offer of surrender up. Break this parade ground formation and assume battle formation, and bring all the batteries up to full power, as well as the shields, launch all fighters, but keep the fighters in close for the moment, until we know what the Viceroy has planned."

Captain Frisk replies, "Aye sir" the orders are issued and the Imperial fleet begins to shift into a better formation for the upcoming battle.

As the Imperial fleet continued to deploy for battle, Captain Frisk looking at his display suddenly says, "Admiral, The Yevethan flagship is slowing"

Teshik looks at his display then says, "That's a small break for us, if the Viceroy has decided to let the rest of his fleet do the fighting for him, though I think that this is an unlikely strategy for the Viceroy."

Captain Frisk who is still looking at his display says, "Admiral, all of the Imperial types are slowing the star dreadnought, the interdictor, the star destroyers all of them. They are stopping in a hurry, too just sitting there. I cannot figure this tactic out Admiral, the T-types will be hard for us to knock out, but the Imperial designs have more punch."

Teshik who now looking intently at his display says, "Signal the rest of the fleet to slow to one quarter, all fighters to maintain close defence, let's give ourselves a little more time to sort this out."

After a few moments Teshik asks, "Are any of the T-types holding off?"

Captain Frisk replies, "No, not one of them they're still coming on, all the Imperial types are definitely veering off now. I don't know maybe the viceroy's having an attack of good sense."

Teshik shakes his head slightly in disagreement with Captain Frisk and says, "That is unlikely Captain after what he has just said, something else is happing onboard those Imperial warships, something unexpected. This may be of benefit to us if I am right."

Captain Frisk says nothing and returns to looking at his displays trying figure out what Teshik has seen and he has not.

**Pride of Yevetha (Intimidator)**

Major Sorannan thinks to himself, there are 513 Black Sword Command veterans aboard Pride of Yevetha, the ship had only 15,000 Yevetha onboard thanks to the slave circuitry. Those proportions did not trouble Major Sorannan. His contingent is armed with more than blasters and a profound motivation. The ship was already under their control dealing with its last owners was a mere detail other Black Sword Command veterans onboard the other Imperial warships are also dealing with the Yevetha onboard those warships.

Laughing aloud, Major Sorannan thought that there was an irony, that the principle instrumentality of their freedom was something called a slave circuit.

Within three minutes of his pressing the button that turned the ships away from the Imperial fleet and towards Deep Space, he was joined in the fire control room by Captain Eistern and three other men whose former duty stations had been elsewhere in the engineering section.

Eistern says, "Looks as though you managed without us, sir" observing the carnage in the pit. Tendrils of smoke were still rising from the consoles where three blackened corpses were slumped.

In a matter of fact tone Sorannan replies, "They gave me no trouble"

Eis'tern glancing up at the holo display and says, "Wish you could say that about our fellow Imperials, it looks like they're coming after us."

Sorannan replies, "We're not ready for a fight and we do not want to fight our fellow Imperials. We will be gone before they are within firing range I think we need to inform our fellow Imperials of who is in charge of these warships."

Eis'tern in reply only nods.

Sorannan climbs back to his station, pulled out a pair of system boards, and replaced them upside down. The monitors flickered as the displays changed to reflect the new functions being controlled from that location.

Sorannan then says into the comm, "Grand Admiral Teshik, can you hear this transmission?"

From the speaker come the reply, "This is Grand Admiral Teshik" there was curiosity in the tone.

Teshik asks, "Please identify yourself?"

Sorannan replies, "Proudly sir. This is Major Sil Sorannan of the Black Sword Command, Imperial Navy acting captain of the Executor class star dreadnought Intimidator and commander of the Camp Pa'aal Squadron."

Teshik asks, "I am not familiar with the Camp Pa'aal Squadron, Major"

Sorannan laughed stiffly then says, "It's newly commissioned Admiral sorry you couldn't be here for the christening."

Teshik asks, "What are your intentions Major?"

Sorannan in a more serious tone replies, "Admiral, the Imperial warships are operating with minimal crew, I request permission to withdraw from the battle."

Teshik states, "Major Sorannan permission to withdraw granted, I am sending you the coordinates for a rendezvous point, you will meet with Admiral Pellaeon at these coordinates, understood?"

Sorannan glances at his board then replies, "Coordinates received Admiral and orders understood, good luck sir."

Teshik says, "Thank you Major, good luck to you."

**Pride of Yevetha (Intimidator)**

After the communication was ended Major Sil Sorannan looked at were Grand Admiral Teshik image had been, then he pressed the middle and third buttons on the wand, and an comm signal leaped across the N'zoth system to slave circuits buried deep in the command architecture of every Imperial warship deployed at N'zoth.

Autopilots calculated jump vectors, and hyperdrive motivators called on the immense power of solar ionization reactors, space trembled, twisted and yawned open around the accelerating warships.

Moments later, Black Sword Command's withdrawal from Koornacht Cluster was finally complete.

The Black Sword Command would soon rendezvous with Admiral Pellaeon to take on additional crew and troops properly secure the warships of the Black Sword Command, they would receive a hero's welcome when they returned to Imperial controlled space.

Behind them the Battle of N'zoth, with the Yevetha fleet greatly reduced in size.

**The Death of a Race**

Due to the efforts of Camp Pa'aal Squadron, the fleet led by Grand Admiral Teshik now outnumbered the Yevetha five to one. Prior to the withdrawal of the ships of the Black Sword Command, the Imperials only outnumbered the enemy by three to one. All that remained now were 194 Aramadia-class thrustships and their D-type trifoil fighters.

This also left the Yevetha without a central fleet and without a leader.

The battle was bloody and one sided lasted "only" thirty hours, once the Yevetha warships had been defeated, Teshik had the damaged Imperial warships withdraw back to Imperial space. Then Teshik issued the rarely used Base Delta Zero order to his fleet, the Imperial class star destroyers along with the Night Hammer begin to establish a very high orbit around N'zoth.

Once this is established, Teshik issues the command for his star destroyers to commence Base Delta Zero, Base Delta Zero command denoted the most severe of several levels of destruction that could be directed against a centre of resistance. This involved laying waste to an entire planet by orbital bombardment, reducing the upper crust of a planet to molten slag or in extreme cases going so far as to atomize the planet's top-soil.

A Base Delta Zero fleet bombardment was regarded as one of the most devastating operations that the Imperial military was capable of, and unlike other Imperial military codes, the designation was not subject to change, so that there was never any confusion when it was issued. Due to its effects, BDZs were considered a last resort.

Teshik was not using the most extreme level of Base Delta Zero command, but instead he was "merely" using this command to eliminate the Yevetha as a species.

It takes only a few hours to eliminate the Yevetha as a species.

In the aftermath of the bombardment, it is noted that the planet could become habitable again within a few decades.

For now Teshik job is completed, the Koornacht Cluster will become an Imperial protectorate.

**The Disposal of Nil Spaar**

As Sil Sorannan waited for his people to bring Nil Spaar to him securely bound near one of the escape pod areas of the Intimidator.

Sorannan says to Nil Spaar, "For the years of torture, and the murder of too many friends, there isn't enough I can do to you. I already know that killing you will not be satisfying. No matter how I do it and how long it takes, I'll wake up tomorrow and see the face of someone who didn't get to go home with us, and I'll know in my gut that you got off too easy. Still you deserve to die. The only thing I can think of that will help me answer those faces that come into my mind is to make you wait for it and make sure that my face stays in your mind while you wait."

Pausing for a moment, then continuing, "I thought that you would like to know that by now you people are dead, your civilisation is extinct you are the last of your kind, Nil Spaar."

Sorannan smiles for a moment then says, "Here is something you should know about me. Before I joined Black Sword Command, I was detailed to the Imperial Research Section as a pilot for the experimental research team. We were trying to learn how to drop bombs and other ordinance from hyperspace. We never learned how. You see, it turns out that no matter which way you go through the magic door, you need a hyperdrive to open it. Anything that we released in hyperspace just stays there. We even took a drone and blew it up in hyperspace, to see if that might open the door. Nothing we ever did succeeded, the project was abandoned by the Empire as a waste of time, however I have a use for the project concerning you."

Sorannan than gestured to Captain Eistern, who stepped to the hatch of escape pod and unlatched it while Gat and another witness dragged Nil Spaar to his feet

Stepping back Sorannan says, "Because it turns out to be very easy to release an object in hyperspace from a ship. One good shove will do it is like the ejection charge of an escape pod, for example."

Stepping back, the major watched as the others forced Nil Spaar into the escape pod and sealed him inside.

Sil Sorannan to the now closed escape pod hatch, "Die slowly" then he slams his hand down on the launch button, with a roar, the escape pod hurtled away into oblivion and a slow and painful death for Nil Spaar, the last of his race.

**New Republic**

In the aftermath of the destruction of the Yevetha, the New Republic will not launch an attack against Teshik in response, after all the New Republic itself was about to attack the Yevetha themselves and can hardly condemn Teshik for something that they were going to do themselves. However, the New Republic was not intending to eradicate the Yevetha.

For now, the New Republic will be mobilizing its forces against the suspected Imperial attack the New Republic will not strike first.

The New Republic has one person that might be able to bring a Grand Admirals offensive to a standstill, if the New Republic chooses to us this person or not!

**Rathalay**

On the planet Rathalay that is known for its vast private beaches, it is where the wealthy go to relax or retire.

Inside one villa on this world, an individual makes the comment to his aid, that he knows is a New Republic agent, "You may wish to inform your superiors that you may need my services to deal with Teshik."

His aid replies in a blunt tone, "We dealt with Thrawn and we can deal with Teshik."

He replies, "Thrawn only had limited resources Teshik resources are much larger than Thrawn's, this will make Teshik a much more dangerous opponent for your military forces."

His aid does not reply, he simply notes down the conversation, with a note that this information should be passed on to New Republic military command.

The New Republic military will initially dismisses this offer, however as events unfold, this may change in the coming months.

To be continued.


	10. Chapter 10

**10. Preparations for War and Imperial Unification**

_"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."_ Winston Churchill

**New Republic, Preparations for War**

A month after the destruction of the Yevetha and the securing of the Koornacht Cluster as an Imperial Protectorate, the New Republic military is on high alert, though Teshik has yet to make his move against the New Republic. The New Republic knows that this will soon come, though they do not know that date of the attack, the New Republics military has been building up its forces, with two new fleets being formed around the two Executor class star dreadnoughts, Guardian (6th fleet) and the Lusankya (7th fleet).

The 6th and 7th fleets are being formed from former Imperial warships that had been captured when the New Republic was the Rebellion, in addition there are various warships that had been donated by friendly governments during that time period. However, as the Rebellion became the New Republic these older warships where mothballed and replaced with newer ones, now however even these old warships will be needed against the reunited Empire.

The New Republics 6th and 7th fleets, are in reality no bigger than Imperial sector groups, making them "light" fleets, though not with the number of star destroyers that would normally be found in an Imperial sector group. The 7th fleet does have an Executor class star dreadnought giving this fleet considerable firepower.

General Wedge Antilles commands the Lusankya and the 7th fleet, along with being the home of two of the New Republics elite fighter squadrons, Rogue Squadron and Wraith Squadron. In addition, the Lusankya would become the unofficial "home" or mobile headquarter of the Jedi, mostly due to General Antilles association with Luke Skywalker.

Onboard the Lusankya, General Antilles, Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade are discussing the re-emergence of Grand Admiral Teshik.

Luke is stating, "We only know for certain that most of the Grand Admirals are dead, even Thrawn death is unconfirmed, along with others one or two mother Grand Admiral that the New Republic is not certain that they are dead."

Mara replies, "We know that eleven of the thirteen Grand Admirals are dead. We know that Teshik is alive, we are uncertain about Thrawn. All this information comes from New Republic intelligence, however I am uncertain that Thrawn is still alive, if he were we would have seen him by now. That only leaves Teshik."

Wedge asks, "What do we know about Teshik?"

Mara replies, "When I was the Emperors Hand, I know that the Emperor held Teshik is high regard, I also know that Teshik was the first Imperial Military Officer of the senior Imperial Fleet Admirals to be promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral."

Wedge says, "That would make Teshik nominally the most senior Grand Admiral?"

Mara replies, "Yes it did, even amongst the Grand Admirals there was a hierarchy, with Teshik at the top."

Wedge asks, "I know that Teshik commanded the Azure Hammer Command, even before he was promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral, after that it seems as though his command did not change that much."

Mara laughs slightly at Wedge's comment Luke asks, "What is so funny?"

Mara still smiling replies, "Well after his promotion to Grand Admiral Teshik was given command of all military units within the Imperial Centre Oversector, which included the capital world of Imperial Centre and all of the Oversector's Fleets."

Wedge whistles than says, "That is quite a command, even for a Grand Admiral?"

Mara who is now grinning replies, "Yes it was, there is more. Teshik only answered to the Emperor, not even Vader could order Teshik, though Teshik never crossed Vader so this was never put to the test whether Vader would obey Teshik if Teshik gave Vader an order or even if Teshik would obey and order given by Vader."

A shocked Luke asks, "You mean in theory Vader was subordinate to Teshik?"

Mara replies, "Technically speaking, yes."

Luke says, "I have never heard about that."

Mara replies, "Very few people knew about this, the Emperor made sure of that. After Yavin IV Teshik assembled Vader's fleet, including the Imperial Death Squadron, though for propaganda purposes it was made to seem as though it was Vader's choice."

Luke says, "I never realised that either."

Mara smirks are Luke's comment and continues, "Just over a year after the Battle of Yavin, this changed when Imperial Advisor Coh Veshiv was abducted from a space station above Esseles, just after the destruction of the first Death Star. By the privateer frigate Far Orbit Palpatine tasked Teshik with the retrieval of Veshiv, as the advisor had been abducted from within Teshik's own domain. The Emperor personally threatened Teshik with execution if he did not immediately deal with the ship and its captain, Dhas Fenoep Vedij."

"However, Teshik failed to rescue Veshiv and kill Vedij, so Palpatine ordered the Grand Admiral to attack the isolationist Hapes Consortium with insufficient forces and materiel as an example to the other Grand Admirals that even they were not beyond reproach. Teshik met in battle with the famed Hapan war fleet, composed of Hapan Battle Dragons and Nova class battle cruisers, during the battle Teshik was nearly killed."

"Teshik survived only by using all the skill that he possessed. Teshik also managed to preserve a number of warships, including his flagship for the mission to Hapan, the Imperial I class star destroyer Eleemosynary. Teshik survived his injuries, upon returning to the Empire, his life was saved only by replacing almost seventy-five percent of his body with cybernetic parts. Teshik retained his position and rank as Grand Admiral, however he was the target of much abuse and discrimination because of his cybernetics."

Wedge interrupts and asks, "The Emperor did not execute Teshik?"

Mara replies, "No, all that the Emperor did was take both the Imperial Centre Oversector and the Azure Hammer Command from Teshik as his punishment he retained command of the remains of the forces he commanded against the Hapan's, as his "new" command squadron."

Luke asks, "That is quite a mild punishment for the Emperor to impose, is it not?"

Mara replies, "Yes it is, this shows how strongly the Emperor still viewed Teshik, even after his failure to rescue Veshiv and kill Vedij, though not many at the Imperial Court saw it that way."

Both Wedge and Luke exchange nervous glances.

**Night Hammer**

At the same time Mara is talking about Teshik, Teshik is busy assuming command of several of the remaining Imperial Warlords including Admiral Daala forces.

Grand Admiral Teshik after accepting Admiral Daala forces back into the Empire during a ceremony onboard the Night Hammer, says, "Admiral Daala you will continue to command the forces within the Deep Core."

Admiral Daala replies, "Thank you sir" trying not to show now relived she is at being allowed to maintain her command or even her life, after what she had done to "reunite" the various Imperial factions within the Deep Core.

Grand Admiral Teshik says, "However, I will need some of your forces to act as a guarding forces for the Koornacht Cluster as this is now an Imperial protectorate."

A pleased Admiral Daala replies, "Yes sir, how much of my command will be needed?"

Grand Admiral Teshik says, "I will transfer half of your Imperial class star destroyers and just over two thousand other warships and support vessels. Here is this list I have prepared." Teshik hands Daala that data pad containing what is needed.

After quickly glancing through the data pad Admiral Daala replies, "I can get these forces moving within a few days of returning to my command sir." However, Admiral Daala cannot really say anything else.

Grand Admiral Teshik says, "That is good, dismissed Admiral Daala." Admiral Daala salutes and leaves for her command.

**Later…**

After Admiral Daala has left, Captain Frisk enters and says, "We have one Imperial faction that has not indicated that they will join with us."

Grand Admiral Teshik says, "The Protectorate?"

Captain Frisk replies, "Yes sir, what shall we do about this?"

Grand Admiral Teshik says, "Nothing for the moment, I do not want to go up against a Sith, this would be very costly in terms of ships and manpower."

Captain Frisk in an uncertain tone replies, "Yes sir"

Grand Admiral Teshik says, "Do not worry Captain, unless we attack The Protectorate, they will not bother us. From my readings of the Protectorate, Lord Brandl just wants to be left alone. However, we should try to get an embassy located on Trulalis."

Captain Frisk makes a note and says, "I will inform the Imperial Diplomatic Corps of this."

Grand Admiral Teshik says, "Good, what is next?"

Captain Frisk says, "The ongoing military preparations and build-up to deal with the Rebels."

Grand Admiral Teshik says, "You may begin."

Captain Frisk begins to inform Grand Admiral Teshik is the state of the Imperial military's preparations and levels of readiness, along with the repairs to those warships that were damaged during the recent conflict with the Yevetha, along with their estimated repair times.

The Empire was alive again and then some!

**Trulalis**

On Trulalis, Fleet Admiral Feyet Kiez had just finished with the Imperial ambassador, next he would see the New Republic ambassador, Lord Brandl has left such matters to Kiez. Though Admiral Kiez was better at military matters than this diplomacy, he was quickly learning that the two were quite similar in many ways.

As the New Republic ambassador, Admiral Kiez greets the ambassador and they sit down, the ambassador starts by saying, "Admiral Kiez I have been asked by my government to ask you what your government's position is regarding the return of Grand Admiral Teshik and if your government is going to join with Grand Admiral Teshik?"

Admiral Kiez had been expecting this question and had put this question to Lord Brandl who had given him the answer, Admiral Kiez replies, "Ambassador, the Protectorate will remain neutral in this conflict, unless the Protectorate is attacked by either side, then the Protectorate will have to reconsider its position."

The New Republic ambassador nods and says, "Admiral Kiez I would presume that the Protectorate is not interested in a mutual defence pact then?"

Admiral Kiez smiles and replies, "Ambassador, you are correct the Protectorate is not in a mutual defence pack, we wish to remain neutral in the coming conflict."

The New Republic ambassador asks, "You are certain that there will be a renewal of hostilities between the New Republic and Grand Admiral Teshik Imperial faction?"

Admiral Kiez replies, "Yes ambassador I am certain of it and I am also certain that the New Republic will lose a lot of territory to Grand Admiral Teshik coming attack, as the New Republics military forces are not strong enough to deal with the Empire."

The New Republic ambassador, who is slightly annoyed at what Admiral Kiez has just said, though does not show it asks, "Admiral Kiez the New Republic is very capable of dealing with Grand Admiral Teshik coming attack, we have seven fleets, these fleets are growing in size as each day goes by."

Admiral Kiez shakes his head slightly and replies, "Ambassador the New Republics fleets are the size of sector groups, the Empire has nearly fifty such fleets guarding its territory, which does not include the Black Sword Command or any other forces that Teshik has managed to gather. I would suspect that Teshik has divided his fleet into two sides, one for offensive action and the other defensive, as to the composition of the two I do not have that information."

The New Republic ambassador makes a mental note of what Admiral Kiez has just told him, though he assumes that New Republic intelligence already has this information, that is why Admiral Kiez is telling him this, but you never know.

Admiral Kiez then asks, "Is there anything else ambassador?"

The New Republic ambassador replies, "No thank you Admiral and thank you for your time."

Admiral Kiez says, "Any time ambassador" shaking the ambassador's hand then the ambassador leaves to report to his government on the conversation and the information that he has been just given by Admiral Kiez.

After the Ambassador has left, Admiral Kiez thinks to himself, this is going just as Lord Brandl has predicted, feeding trivial information to the New Republic and they will leave us alone, the Empire under Teshik will not attack as long as there is a chance that the Protectorate may rejoin the Empire, thus keeping both sides as bay.

Admiral Kiez has to admit to himself that he is enjoying this game, though he much prefers commanding a battle fleet to diplomacy.

**Imperial Preparations**

At the same time that Admiral Kiez is meeting the New Republics Ambassador on Trulalis, Grand Admiral Teshik preparations are almost complete.

Just as Admiral Kiez has stated Teshik has divided his fleet into two main parts, the first part will remain behind to guard the Empires current fifty sectors and that Deep Core, these warships are older types such as the Dreadnought class heavy cruiser and other similar types, along with a number of Imperial class and Victory class star destroyers.

The second part is the offensive arm this consists of the bulk of the Imperial class II star destroyers along with other modern warships and fighters, along with ground assault troops. This offensive arm will commence the attack against fifty sectors, with luck the New Republics fleet will be spread so thinly that they will be unable to bring sufficient forces to bear against any of the attacking Imperial battle groups that they will be unable to stop from capturing these first fifty sectors.

Onboard the Night Hammer Teshik is eager to get into battle a defeat the Rebels, however he is also aware that he should not overestimate his enemy as others have done in the past. The Imperial Council (formally known as the Council of Moffs) is also eager to increase the number of sectors, but they defer to Teshik on military matters, as his recent victory over the Yevetha has strengthened Teshik position within the Imperial military.

One person in particular is trying to ease himself into a position of more power this is Moff Vilim Disra of Braxant sector, home of Bastion the capital of the Empire. Most of the members of the Imperial Council do not trust Disra however so far no one has found any incriminating evidence against Disra, so no one can unseat him.

There is one person that is keeping an eye on the Moffs, especially Disra, this is General Delvardus who is acting under Grand Admiral Teshik direct orders, General Delvardus has found a growing amount of evidence against Disra.

The first piece is that Disra had another Grand Admiral executed, just after Endor Disra engaged in political "manoeuvring" that resulted in the assassination of Grand Admiral Rufaan Tigellinus, allowing Disra to take his place on the Committee.

The second piece is that Disra has been dealing with the Cavrilhu pirate gang, though Disra also employed the services of several pirate gangs, mostly the Cavrilhu gang under Captain Zothip.

Instead of using these links for the benefit of the Empire Disra was using this alliance with the Cavrilhu pirate gang to line his own pockets and to build up his own private military forces.

General Delvardus smiles and thinks to himself that this growing amount of evidence will get Disra killed, as Disra is too greedy for his own good.

**Lusankya, Flagship, New Republic Seventh Fleet**

Several days later, General Antilles, Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade, along with the command staff are discussing strategy that could be used against the anticipated Imperial attack.

As they are discussing strategy the comm goes off and General Antilles says, "This is Antilles, what is it."

From the other end of the comm the reply is, "Sir, this Imperial attack has begun."

For several moments, no one says anything then General Antilles asks, "Do we know how big the attack is?"

From the other end of the comm the reply is, "Yes sir the Imperials are hitting between twenty to thirty sectors."

General Antilles exchanges glances then says, "All hand to battle station, prepare the fleet to get underway, I am on my ways to the bridge have the fleet brought the battle alert."

From the other end of the comm the reply is, "Aye sir"

Teshik's attack has begun.

To be continued.


	11. Chapter 11

**11. Imperial Redemption**

_"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."_ Winston Churchill

**The First Thirty Days**

**Night Hammer**

On the border area between Imperial and Rebel controlled space (Teshik refuses to call them the New Republic), Teshik own battle fleet stands ready to launch the first stage of his offensive against the Rebels. Teshik fleet is one of several Imperial battle fleets and battle groups preparing to attack Rebel controlled systems and sectors.

Captain Frisk walks smartly up to Grand Admiral Teshik command chair and says, "Sir, all battle fleets report ready to commence the first phase of the attack plan."

Grand Admiral Teshik is an unnervingly claim voice replies, "Very well Captain, you may issue to go order, to commence the attack."

Captain Frisk salutes, then turns, and says, "All hands to battle stations, communications send the go code to command to all attack groups for the first phase of the attack."

A few minutes later Teshik own battle fleet jumps into hyperspace.

**First forty-eight hours**

For the first forty-eight hours, the Rebels response to the Imperial attacks is limited, with several systems falling quickly to the Imperial advance.

Onboard the Night Hammer, Teshik own command squadron has secured its first system without firing a single shot, the rest of Teshik own battle fleet has been able to secure the other systems of this first sector. The first stages of Teshik's are proceeding ahead of schedule, Teshik is pleased with the progress so far.

The New Republic begins to engage the various elements of the various Imperial battle fleets and battle groups with only limited success due to the large number of targets the Empire is attacking at one time.

**Days Three to Ten**

As the Imperial attacks continue, the New Republics fleets are increasingly being run ragged, by jumping from one system to another trying desperately to hold back the multiple Imperial attacks. Only occasionally a system is protected from an Imperial attack, this is usually when one of the two of the New Republics Executor class star dreadnoughts are present, these warships overwhelming firepower is more than enough to push back an Imperial attack group trying to take the system.

However, once these warships have withdrawn from the threatened system, the Imperials simply launch another attack a take the system, while the New Republics Executor class star dreadnoughts are busy in another system.

This is not helped by several neutral systems refusing any of the New Republics warships from operating within their systems, for fear of being an Imperial attack on their system, this is just as Grand Admiral Teshik had predicted what these systems would do. In this way, Teshik is isolating the New Republic from any help from any neutral systems within the sectors that Teshik is retaking from the Rebels.

**Days Eleven to Twenty**

As the Lusankya and the rest of the New Republics Seventh Fleet jump from system to system trying to stem the various Imperial attacks, it has become apparent to General Antilles that they are only delaying the Imperial conquests not stopping them. However, the New Republics high command has yet to draw this conclusion and devise a better battle strategy to deal with the Imperial attacks.

All General Antilles can do for the time being is delaying the Imperial military, even with the Jedi helping, General Antilles is having trouble dealing with the Imperial attacks, as Grand Admiral Teshik is not present in the sectors that New Republics Seventh Fleet is operating in. Grand Admiral Teshik has done the battle planning, the various Imperial commanders are confident again, just as they were when Thrawn returned, perhaps even more so, due to the larger resources available to Teshik.

Whatever tactic General Antilles tries' system after system falls to the Empire, as his forces cannot be everywhere at once.

**Days Twenty-one to Thirty**

For the next nine days, the New Republics military forces are pushed back in battle after battle, though Grand Admiral Teshik is not present at most of these battles these, New Republic Intelligence indicates that he has had hand in the planning of these battles.

As the individual battles rage, in system after system, it does become clear that Teshik is working to a long-term plan, as each system is secured a system defence force is left behind. These system defence forces vary in ship and troop numbers, depending on the importance of each system, but they usually follow that the force consists of a least one Vindicator class heavy cruiser acting as flagship, with up a dozen Enforcer class picket cruisers, acting as the system new defence fleet.

None of these systems is protected by a star destroyers either Victory or Imperial classes, these star destroyers are being use as part of the attacking force and are not being wasted on system defence, this is part of Teshik long term plan when systems are captured back from the New Republic.

In addition, the Empire is not using the harsh tactics of Palpatine, instead the Empire is using more "Carrot" than the "Stick", in those systems that have a high industrial base, order will be placed to increase output. This has the benefit of reducing unemployment and keeping gthe planets population occupied, it also increases the military build up of Teshik forces, adding additional troops and equipment in the fight against the New Republic, allowing Teshik in the months to come, to accelerate his offensive and capture more sectors from the New Republic.

**Day Thirty-One**

As the thirty-first day dawns, Grand Admiral Teshik forces have managed to capture fifty sectors, with minimal effort and losses.

**New Republic Security Council, Day Thirty-One**

As the New Republic Security Council, hear the daily situation report from General Etahn A'baht the former commander of the New Republic Fifth Fleet.

Borsk Fey'lya now Chief of State after Leia Organa Solo resigned after her failing to deal with the Koornacht Cluster.

After General A'baht finishes the briefing, Fey'lya asks, "Is there nothing we can do to stem the Imperial onslaught?"

General A'baht sighs slightly with exhaustion and replies, "No sir, there is nothing we can do."

Fey'lya who picks up on General A'baht meaning asks, "Then there is someone or something that could help the New Republic?"

General A'baht replies, "Yes sir, there is, but I doubt that the Security Council would agree to use this individual."

Fey'lya fur ruffles slightly and says, "You will let this Council decide what it will use to defend the New Republic, let us hear what it is first then we will decide."

General A'baht replies, "As you wish sir, but you will not like it."

Fey'lya says, "Noted, not let us hear what this is."

General A'baht replies, "There is another surviving Grand Admiral."

The room explodes with shouts, it takes Fey'lya several minutes to claim everyone down then he asks, "Would you explain that statement General."

General A'baht replies, "Yes sir, the Grand Admiral is Octavian Grant, he was what we thought was the last surviving Grand Admiral, after Thrawn's death. Octavian Grant was one of the twelve original Imperial Grand Admirals appointed by Emperor Palpatine two years before the Battle of Yavin. A Tapani lord of House Mecetti, Grant saw himself as superior to those who were not members of the nobility, and held a particular dislike for droids and other species. His Humanocentric beliefs stood firm after he joined the ranks of the Galactic Empire, and he proved himself to be an expert military strategist. Due to his military talents, he was appointed as one of the twelve Grand Admirals created by Palpatine, though he was one of the least popular Grand Admirals, and did not attempt to curry favour with the Imperial Moffs."

"After leading several successful campaigns during the Galactic Civil War, Grant was left virtually alone after the Emperor's death over Endor, as he had not built up a sturdy following as the other Grand Admirals had. Grant bided his time, laying low in the Pentastar Alignment while the New Republic hunted down his fellow Grand Admirals. Eventually, with the other Grand Admirals all apparently dead, Grant defected to the New Republic just prior to Thrawn's return, providing key Imperial secrets in exchange for immunity from charges of war crimes. He was relocated to the luxury of the planet Rathalay and, although he was tempted to come out of retirement and fight the alien Grand Admiral Thrawn, but Thrawn was killed before he could make an offer of service to us."

Fey'lya asks, "You are saying that we have an Imperial Grand Admiral had defected to the New Republic who is willing to help fight another Grand Admiral and no one thought to inform the New Republic Security Council?"

General A'baht replies, "New Republic military command was under direct orders from Mon Mothma not to reveal this deal to anyone, as she thought it would cause to many problems. It was thought best the as few people knew that an Imperial Grand Admiral had defected to the New Republic."

Fey'lya asks, "Has Grant offered his help against Teshik?"

General A'baht replies, "Yes he has but his offer of help has not been acted upon.

Fey'lya asks, "By whose authority?"

From across the room Brigadier Thron replies, "By mine"

Fey'lya asks, "Why?"

Brigadier Thron replies, "Because we do not need this 'Imperial' fighting our battles for us."

Fey'lya in a deadly voice states, "Brigadier Thron you do not have the authority to make such decisions arbitrarily, do you understand?"

With a scowl on his face Brigadier Thron replies, "Yes I understand."

Fey'lya says, "Good, General A'baht you will bring Octavian Grant before the Security Council so that we can decide."

General A'baht replies, "Yes sir, I will order it immediately."

Octavian Grant should arrive within a few days.

**Rathalay**

On the planet Rathalay the news of the New Republic Security Councils summoning of Octavian Grant has arrive at his estate.

Octavian Grant smiles at the news and says, "I think it is time to pack"

His aid replies, "Yes sir."

Octavian Grant says, "Do not forget my small black case."

His aid replies, "Yes sir, I will not, we should be ready to leave within the hour." He is very surprised that the New Republic had taken up Grant's offer.

One hour later Octavian Grant and his small team of aids (New Republic agents) leaves Rathalay for Coruscant, arriving six days later.

Now however with the New Republic losing ground rapidly, it looks like Grand Admiral Octavian Grant has a chance to fight one more war.

**New Republic Security Council**

As Octavian Grant enters the New Republic Security Council chamber, the Security Council sense that Octavian Grant is no mere human, he has the certain presence, even without him wearing his Grand Admirals uniform, only a smart business suite.

Fey'lya had heard the rumours that a Grand Admiral had a certain aurora about them, until now he had dismissed it, but being in the same room as one, Fey'lya knew that these rumours were true.

Fey'lya is the first to speak he says, "Welcome to Coruscant Octavian Grant, thank you for coming at such short notice."

A now seated Octavian Grant replies, "Thank you for allowing me to help you in these troubled times."

Fey'lya asks, "Can you give us the information that we need to defeat Teshik?"

Grant replies, "It is not as simple as that, if I give you one strategy Teshik will simply adapt his own strategy to compensate."

Fey'lya nods slightly and says, "I understand, but how can you help us against Teshik, if you cannot devise a strategy that can be used against Teshik?"

Grant replies, "That is quite simple, I will fight Teshik directly in battle, that should allow be to adapt to his changes in strategy almost instantaneously."

Brigadier Thron who has been listening to this and can hold his silence no longer says, "So you what to command the New Republics Battle Fleets then, I see you true intentions."

Grant looks across the table at Brigadier Thron and in a quite but deadly tone replies, "No Brigadier, I do not wish to command the New Republics Battle Fleets, I ask for only one warship."

Fey'lya says, "Brigadier Thron you will remain silent, if you do not you will be removed."

Brigadier Thron fumes at Fey'lya but says nothing.

Fey'lya then turning to Grant says, "You only want one warship to command."

Grant smiles at Fey'lya and replies, "Yes, an MC90 cruiser fully equipped, no more."

Fey'lya asks, "What can you do with a single MC90 cruiser?"

Grant chuckles at Fey'lya and replies, "You have seen what Thrawn did with a small fleet within eighteen months, imagine what I can do with a single MC90 cruiser."

Fey'lya fur ruffles at what Grant has just said and replies, "We will need to discuss your offer, would you mind waiting outside?"

Grant says, "I would be happy to" then gets up and leaves the New Republic Security Council room.

For the next twelve hours, the New Republic Security Council debates (well agues along with a lot of shouting) whether to use the tactical skill of a former Imperial Grand Admiral.

**Agreement**

Grant is called back in and Fey'lya says, "We have agreed to suggestion, you will be given command of a single warship, one of the newest MC90 cruisers. You will also be watched very closely in what you do, do you understand?"

Grant replies, "Yes I do and thank you. I would suggest one other item, that only the command staff of the cruiser who I really am, otherwise this would cause problems."

Fey'lya says, "I agree will you on that point, the fewer people know that we are using a former Grand Admiral the better."

Grant replies, "Good, if there is nothing else, I will be on my way."

Fey'lya says, "No there is nothing else, good luck."

Grant replies, "Thank you"

Octavian Grant leaves the room and then to a shuttle with his "aid" who will act as his liaison officer while Grant is commanding the MC90 cruiser.

A few hours later, as the shuttle heads towards the MC90 Octavian Grant can feel that old buzz that he got from commanding coming back again, he has not felt so alive for a very long time.

To be continued.


	12. Chapter 12

**12. A Problem Removed**

_"A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril."_ – Winston Churchill

A week later Octavian Grant shuttle lands on the MC90 cruiser Victory.

**MC90 cruiser, Victory**

The MC90 cruiser Victory is brand new, fresh from the Mon Calamari Shipyards, her crew and equipment is a mix of veterans and new recruits.

With a length of 1,255 meters, the MC90 class cruisers, was the first Mon Calamari Star Cruiser designed specifically as a warship. Its focus on heavy weapons and large hangars showed a realistic assessment of the firepower required to challenge Imperial class star destroyers.

The controls and displays onboard the MC90 class were designed, for the first time on a Mon Calamari Cruiser, for compatibility with most major species, allowing for officers other than Mon Calamari to pilot the vessels. The command centre was a clear bubble in the centre of the ship, giving the bridge officers a vision of the area below as well as above.

Victory's fighter complement consists of 36 X-Wing fighters, 24 B-Wing bombers and 12 BTL-A4 Y-wing "LongProbe" for reconnaissance.

Only the ship's Captain and First officer know who Grant really is, the rest of the crew are being kept in the dark (for obvious reasons). The other person to know who Grant really is, is Major Lorn, Grant's former "aid", though Grant's true identity is bound to leak out eventually, it is hopped by then he will have established himself.

The New Republic Security Council is taking a big risk, but it hopes that one Grand Admiral can deal with another Grand Admiral or at the very worst by time for the New Republics military to catch their breath.

**Victory, Main Bridge**

For the past twenty-four hours Grant has been studding all the information that the New Republic will give him on the ongoing battles, he has worked out what to do and how to do it.

On the bridge the captain and command staff of the Victory is aware whom Grant really is the rest of the crew have not been told, they are waiting for Grant to arrive.

As the turbolift doors open Grant enters the bridge with is "aid" in tow, he heads for the Admirals command station and sits in the chair, then says, "Captain is Victory ready?"

The captain replies, "The Victory is ready, what is the first target."

Grant inserts a data card and transfers the data then says, "This is the first target, take us to these coordinates."

The captain looks at his display and the coordinates and say, "Helm take use to the coordinates, jump into hyperspace when ready."

The helmsman replies, "Aye sir" then a few minutes later the Victory jumps into hyperspace.

**Commanding the Victory**

Over the next few days Grant is able to prove his worth, as he wins every engagement against those forces that Teshik has sent to capture various system that are under the control of the New Republic. Each time the attack forces is driven back with heavy losses, by a single MC90 cruiser, with the Victory taking little or no damage.

By the end of the first two weeks of combat, the captain and the senior staff of the Victory have gone from being suspicious of Grant and questioning his orders, to that of obeying them without question.

One month into Grant's command, the Victory and her crew are building up quite a reputation as a deadly ships and an elite crew, this is entirely due to Grant's skill as a former Grand Admiral in moulding the crew of the Victory into what he needs.

On Coruscant Fey'lya was pleased that his insistence that Grant be given a single ship was paying dividends for him in political capital especially with the New Republics military high command, who had be sceptical about using the skills of a former Grand Admiral.

There was one New Republic military officer who was actually plotting to have Grant removed from his command and sent back to Rathalay, this is Brigadier Thron, he is getting very closed to being able to put his own plan into place to remove Grant.

The sudden setbacks over the past month have not gone unnoticed by Teshik, onboard the Night Hammer he is studying the tactics used and his is about to be surprised by what he discovers.

**Night Hammer**

Grand Admiral Teshik has been studying the tactics used by this lone MC90 cruiser for the past few hours, he then suddenly spots something and replays it, Teshik is taken aback by what he has seen and recoils back into his seat.

Captain Frisk who has been sitting with Teshik asks, "I everything ok sir, should I call a medic?"

For a few moments, Teshik says nothing then he says, "No Captain you do not need to call a medic, I do not need medical assistance. But we do have a problem" indicating towards to holo display.

Captain Frisk asks, "What sort of problem sir?"

Teshik is a matter of fact tone replies, "The individual commanding that MC90 is a former Grand Admiral, from the tactics used I would say it is Octavian Grant."

Captain Frisk's jaw drops and for a few moments he says nothing then asks, "Sir are you sure, the rebels may simply be using a former Grand Admirals tactics against you, after all you are the last Grand Admiral, all the other are dead."

Teshik shakes his head and replies, "No Captain, this is Octavian Grant as each Grand Admirals strategies had a unique 'signature' and these strategies bare Octavian Grant unique 'signature'. Looks like the Rebels are using a Grand Admiral to fight a Grand Admiral, quite clever really."

Captain Frisk says, "Yes sir, that means that those unconfirmed reports of a senior Imperial officer being held on Rathalay are true."

Teshik says, "Yes it does, we must focus our efforts on Octavian Grant for the time being, I want Imperial Intelligence to get me as much information on this MC90 cruiser as they can find and I do not care how they get the information, understood?"

Captain Frisk replies, "Yes sir, I will issue the orders right away."

Teshik says, "In addition, I want a covert ops team to go to Rathalay and locate the residence that Octavian Grant and put it under surveillance, tell them to be careful as the rebels will have left some sort of security in place."

Captain Frisk replies, "Yes sir, but I doubt that the rebels will send him back to Rathalay."

Teshik says, "Probably, but it is worth checking out, also add a strike team as well along with a rapid extraction group for both the covert ops team and the strike team."

Captain Frisk asks, "Yes sir, is that all?"

Teshik replies, "For the moment, you are dismissed Captain."

Outside of Teshik quarters Captain Frisk thinks that this is excessive use of valuable resources, but on the other hand if we are dealing with a Grand Admiral, looking back at the armoured doors at Teshik quarters Captain Frisk are I know how deadly a single Grand Admiral can be.

Captain Frisk heads towards the bridge to issue Teshik's instructions.

**One Month Later**

Brigadier Thron using a faked order, reporting to be from Fey'lya, orders that Grant be removed from his command and sent back to Rathalay, this comes as quite a surprise to the senior command staff onboard the Victory.

Grant is also surprised, as his recent victories against the Empire had halted the Empires advance in several sectors, Grant could not understand what Fey'lya was up to.

On the trip back to Rathalay, Grant had time to think through what had happened, he had come to the swift conclusion that Fey'lya had not ordered this, someone within the New Republics military had these orders faked. Though Grant had figured out what had happened there was nothing he could do, therefore he asks his aid to take a written message to Fey'lya asking why he has been remove from his command, this will be the last time hi s aid will see Grant.

Two days after arriving back on Rathalay, Grant's aid departs for Coruscant, it will take Grant's aid ten days to reach Coruscant due to the war it is necessary for him to take an indirect route.

It will be the last time Grant's aid will ever see Grant.

**Imperial Surveillance Team**

Two days ago, the Imperial Surveillance Team observed the return of Octavian Grant to Rathalay the Imperial Surveillance Team immediately passed this information on to Teshik requesting instructions. After the message was sent, the Imperial Strike Team was put on standby.

While they were waiting for a reply, both the Surveillance Team and the Strike Team began planning to attack Octavian Grant residence, Octavian Grant residence is guarded by a New Republic Close Protection Team, this team has a dual role of protecting Octavian Grant and making sure that he does not try to escape.

These New Republic Close Protection personnel will not cause a problem from the Strike Team to deal with.

**Night Hammer**

Onboard the Night Hammer, Captain Frisk has reported to Grand Admiral Teshik the news that Octavian Grant has returned to his residence on Rathalay. This news puzzles Teshik as from the reports he has been getting from the front as Grant has been dealing with Teshik attacks against the New Republic very well, this is no reason to remove Grant from the front.

Captain Frisk asks, "Sir, shall I order the Strike Team in?"

Grand Admiral Teshik sighs slightly then he says, "Yes, use plan Bravo Nine."

Captain Frisk frowns slightly at Teshik but does not question the order and replies, "Yes sir, I will issue the order right away."

**Rathalay**

On Rathalay, both the Surveillance Team and the Strike Team have received the go order along with instructions to use plan Bravo Nine.

Octavian Grant residence is extensive though Grant himself keeps to one corner of the mansion the rest of the mansion is patrolled/used by the New Republic Close Protection personnel.

With the go order received the Imperial Strike Team begins its mission, with the Imperial Surveillance Team providing support, it only takes the Imperial Strike Team three minutes to eliminate the out layer of protection, that are patrolling the grounds.

As Imperial Strike Team move in on the main residence, Octavian Grant, who sighs, has observed the Imperial Strike Team Grant easily identifies them as an Imperial covert operations team.

Grant could warn the remaining members of the New Republic Close Protection personnel, that are in the residence, but he decides not to, as there is no point, the New Republic Close Protection personnel would be eliminated either way, this way it will be relatively painless for them.

Grant goes into his room and changes into the clothing he was carrying in the small black case, if he is to be killed, his killers will know whom they are killing.

**Ten Minutes Later**

With the last of the New Republic Close Protection personnel eliminated, the Major in charge of the Imperial Strike Team, signals them the close in on the room containing there target.

As they enter the first room, this appears to be a large study, with a large fireplace up against one wall with several rooms leading off from it.

Before the Major can issue signals to his men, a voice with the air of command says, "That will be unnecessary to search for me."

The Major looks towards one of the large chairs facing the fire rising from the chair the coming around the chair to face the leader of the Imperial Strike Team is a man in a Grand Admirals uniform. This causes some of the Imperial Strike Team members of gasp, as only the Major had known who the target really was, every member of the Imperial Strike Team knew all the Imperial Grand Admirals by sight.

Before the Imperial Strike Team members, stood an Imperial Grand Admiral, resplendent in his white uniform.

The Major says in a commanding voice, "We have job to do, check the other rooms, MOVE"

With the sudden command there, training clicks in and they search the other rooms, finding nothing, they return to the large study, where the Major and his own section are covering Grant.

The Major raises his weapons and fires at Octavian Grant without ceremony then into his comm the Major says, "This is strike team lead, to observation team lead, mission complete, begin withdrawal phase" over the comm a confirmation comes.

**One Hour Later**

With both the Imperial Strike Team and the Imperial Surveillance Team have withdrawn, the former residence of Octavian Grant explodes, as the mini nuke they planed detonates, destroying Octavian Grant's estate, erasing all evidence.

**Fallout**

The fallout within the New Republic will huge.

A day after the two Imperial teams has left, Grant's aid arrives on Coruscant he goes straight to Fey'lya office, Fey'lya is shocked by the news that Grant's aid brings him, as Fey'lya had nver idded such an order to have Grant returned to Rathalay.

It only takes a few hours to find those responsible along with the ringleader Brigadier Thron, who is proud of what he has done. Brigadier Thron and the others responsible for this are arrested for treason and will be found guilty and sentenced to death.

A few hours after Brigadier Thron and his co-conspirators arrest word is received that Grant's estate on Rathalay, has been destroyed with no survivors.

None of this will bring back Octavian Grant the New Republic has lost its only chance against the Empire led by Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik.

Fey'lya is not one to give up, neither is the military and civilian leadership of the New Republic, the war will go on.

**Night Hammer**

Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik receives the news that the mission has been a complete success he orders that the offensive operations (that has been slowed with the discovery of Grant) be speeded by, as there is no one that can defeat them now.

Both imperial teams are on their way by to the Night Hammer, to be debriefed by Teshik himself.

For the New Republic, it is the beginning of the end.

To be continued.


	13. Chapter 13

**13. The Beginning of The End**

_"Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all."_ – Winston Churchill

Over the next year, more and more sectors fall to the Imperial advance, the New Republics military forces are being run ragged by Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik tactics, along with his ever-growing military forces. As Teshik captures more sectors so his resources grow and the New Republics shrink.

At the end of the year, the New Republic looses the support of the Corporate Sector Authority the CSA goes over to fully supporting the Empire and only covertly supporting the New Republic with a trickle of supplies (just in case the New Republic manages to turn the tide of the war around).

**Corporate Sector Authority**

The Corporate Sector Authority (CSA) is the government of a free enterprise fiefdom known as the Corporate Sector, which is located at the end of the Tingel Arm. The Corporate Sector currently has several thousand systems under its control, along with several billion employees (the CSA referrers to its population and employees rather than citizens) living with the Corporate Sector.

The Corporate Sector was first formed 500 years ago, in order to resolve differences between Galactic Republic lawmakers and the heads of many of the galaxy's largest corporations. The Corporate Sector originally consisted of a few hundred star systems, in small corner of its current sector, all of which were devoid of intelligent life. The corporations where allowed to operate in this sector could purchase entire regions of space, however they were meant to be supervised by the Galactic Republic.

In the last years of the Republic, a group of lobbyists known as the Galactic Corporate Policy League, backed by such influential figures as Baron Tagge began to get in close with the then Chancellor Palpatine, presumably representing the loyalist companies in the sector, although during the Clone Wars most of the Corporate Sector supported the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

After the conflict's resolution, several of his influential corporate allies convinced him to expand the Corporate Sector to thousands of star systems, and with the signing of the Corporate Sector charter; a new umbrella company was formed from the GCPL to rule the newly expanded sector: The Corporate Sector Authority. The CSA took possession of many of the remaining droids belonging to the former Confederacy and as per its agreement with the Empire paid an annual stipend of 3% of the sector's gross product, as well as a tithe of materials and ore produced.

With the CSA fully supporting the Empire, the Empire will again receive the annual stipend of 3% of the sector's gross product, as well as a tithe of materials and ore produced, these resources and monies will go directly under the control of the Supreme Commander of Imperial Military Forces.

Giving Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik his own resources and monies without the need to go through the Imperial Council for funding for his own projects, though the Imperial Council is not stupid enough to try and deny the Imperial Military the funding they need to fight this successful war. Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik does not want the Imperial Council looking into various projects that he has been running, especially those around Sanctuary Base, with one project nearing completion soon.

**Blockade Tactics**

Over the past year most of the outer rim and mid rim territories have fallen, only the core sectors remain, several systems with the outer rim and mid rim territories that are extremely pro New Republic like the planet Kashyyyk have been blockaded, instead of being invaded.

**The Siege of Kashyyyk**

Once the New Republic Fleet had withdrawn, Teshik had deemed an invasion of Kashyyyk would be suicidal of the Imperial Army (the Imperial Army agreed with Teshik), therefore Teshik opted for an easier solution, blockade.

Any ship entering would be sized, any ship trying to run the blockade that would not stop would be destroyed, the same would go for any ship trying to launch from Kashyyyk, these ships would also be destroyed if they did not heave too and surrender.

For the past few months the blockade force led by Fleet Admiral Daala has stopped every ship trying to enter of leave Kashyyyk, this also has another advantage, it allows Fleet Admiral Daala vent her anger on these attempts to run the blockade of Kashyyyk.

Over the past few months, Teshik has gone out of his way to praise Daala on her perfect record enforcing the blockade of Kashyyyk this has caused Daala to push herself harder, to try to anticipate what the Rebels will try next. Teshik is slowly "weaning" Daala of Tarkins stupid tactics and making her use her own mind, as she had done at the Imperial Academy all those decades ago, Daala like Fleet Admiral Pellaeon and others, that Teshik is moulding them in his "own image" these senior Imperial Military Commanders are becoming extremely deadly in combat against the New Republic.

The best Imperial Military Commanders get the most powerful assets, the Imperial Fleet commanders get their own command squadron, a set of warships permanently assigned to them. These growing number of command squadrons contain the best Imperial Fleet commanders that Teshik has managed to "train up" to a much higher standard, making these Admirals very dangerous opponents.

**Imperial Command Squadrons**

The command squadrons of the Imperial Fleet are growing in numbers as the Imperil Fleet grows. These command squadrons are the core of any Imperial battle fleet, though they can act on their own without support units, due to these command squadrons combat capabilities.

**Imperial Command Squadrons (examples)**

**Hammer Squadron (Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik command squadron)**

Customised Executor class star dreadnought – Night Hammer (command ship)

Customized Imperial Class star destroyer – Eleemosynary

Four Advanced Victory II class star destroyers

**Scourge Squadron (Fleet Admiral Gilad Pellaeon)**

Executor class star dreadnought – Reaper (command ship)

Imperial II class star destroyers – Chimaera, Death's Head, Inexorable, Judicator, Stormhawk and the Nemesis

**Imperial Death Squadron (Fleet Admiral Dorja)**

Executor class star dreadnought – Intimidator (command ship)

Imperial II class star destroyer – Relentless (along with five other Imperial II class star destroyers)

Grand Admiral Teshik had decided to reform the Imperial Death Squadron around the Intimidator in the aftermath of the destruction of the Yevetha species this also kept Fleet Admiral Dorja away from Fleet Admiral Pellaeon and Dorja numerous attempts to unseat Pellaeon from his command.

**Maw Squadron (Fleet Admiral Natasi Daala) currently blockading Kashyyyk (includes blockade forces as well as Daala's command squadron)**

Imperial II class star destroyer – Gorgon II formally known as the Firestorm (flagship)

Five Imperial II class star destroyers

Forty-five Enforcer class cruisers

Ten Vindicator class heavy cruisers

Eleven Interdictor cruisers

Seventy Rendili StarDrive light corvette class (also known as the Imperial Customs class corvette)

These few squadrons above only list a small fraction of the Imperial military forces that Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik has managed to build, the Imperial Battle Fleet is growing in size and capability as the weeks, months and years go by.

**The Enemy Within**

Now that the New Republic is on its knees, Teshik can deal with the most dangerous member of the Imperial Council, Moff Vilim Disra.

It is time to inform the Imperial Council that Moff Vilim Disra plans to kill several of the council members and become head of the Imperial Council this will also include killing the current head of the Imperial Council, Koron Mzdale.

**Imperial Council, Bastion**

The members of the inner council have assembled, supposedly to listen to Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik latest war reports from the front, this is not why they are here they will hear a report from General Delvardus on Moff Vilim Disra acts of treason.

Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik says, "Thank you all for coming, before I issue my report to this council, I would like you to hear a report from General Delvardus, General."

General Delvardus stands up and says, "Thank you sir. My report concerns one of the members of the inner council, Moff Vilim Disra." Moff Disra shifts uneasily in his seat but says nothing.

General Delvardus continues, "Item, after the death of the emperor at Endor, Moff Vilim Disra caused the death of Grand Admiral Rufaan Tigellinus, just after Endor Disra engaged in political "manoeuvring" that resulted in the assassination of Grand Admiral Rufaan Tigellinus, allowing Disra to take his place on the Committee. As you can see the evidence is overwhelming."

There is a ripple of mummers around the council room, as they read the evidence coming up on their displays still Disra says nothing.

General Delvardus continues, "Next item is that Disra has been dealing with the Cavrilhu pirate gang, Disra also employs the services of several other pirate gangs, though from my investigation mostly the Cavrilhu gang under Captain Zothip. Instead of using these links for the benefit of the Empire Disra was using this alliance with the Cavrilhu pirate gang and others to line his own pockets and to build up his own private military forces."

This causes and uproar in the council chamber, it takes several minutes for Koron Mzdale to quieten things down.

General Delvardus continues, "Finally I have evidence that Disra is planning to murder several members of this council including the leader of the Imperial Council Moff Koron Mzdale, so that he can become head of this council."

It only takes a few moments for the Imperial Council to eject Disra, who has said nothing, as he realizes that his game is up.

General Delvardus sits down, smiles, and thinks to himself that this growing amount of evidence will get Disra killed, as Disra is too greedy for his own good, Disra is out and that should solve many problems that were plaguing the empire. Now the members of the Imperial Council will look at each other to see if there are others like Disra that threaten there positions, that should keep the Imperial Council occupied for several years.

After the Imperial Council members has quieted down Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik says, "Thank you General Delvardus for you excellent investigation into this matter. Now I will report on the progress of the war so far."

For the next few hours, Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik will brief the Imperial Council on the progress of the war so far, this will be in a summary form, so that Teshik does not give too much away to any potential leaks that may occur.

Meanwhile, the onboard the Lusankya...

**Lusankya Flagship New Republic 7th fleet**

After the past few months of fighting, General Wedge Antilles fleet has been reduced in numbers by one third, with very few replacements forthcoming the only recent replacement warship is the MC90 cruiser Victory. This crew of this cruiser seem to have different battle tactics to the rest of the military forces under General Antilles, these tactics are much better at dealing with Imperial forces that General Antilles tactics are.

Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade are discussing the war against the empire, Mara is saying, "Grand Admiral Teshik is not present at every battle, that would be impossible, but he seems to have had input into the planning of each major battle, this has led to our forces having heavy losses in each encounter with Teshik forces."

Wedge asks, "So what is the answer, how do we stop an Imperial Grand Admiral, what tactics do we need to use?"

Mara replies, "The only time a Grand Admiral was defeated in direct battle like this was when Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin tried a coup against the Emperor and failed."

Wedge asks, "But how did the Emperor win?"

Mara replies, "The Emperor used another Grand Admiral against Zaarin."

Wedge says, "Oh, well we do not have a Grand Admiral, well not that I know of anyway, which Grand Admiral defeated Zaarin?" Wedge is unaware of the "Grant incident"

Mara replies, "Thrawn"

Wedge and Luke exchange glances and Luke asks, "Does Teshik have any weaknesses that we can exploit?"

Mara replies, "No, none that I know off."

Luke asks, "There has to be a way to defeat a Grand Admiral?"

Mara replies, "Not in direct battle there is none, you must remember that all of the Grand Admiral were and are all exceptionally gifted officers, creamed at the time from the best of the Imperial military, the Emperor chose the best a brightest Imperial military personnel. He even overcame his own prejudices against aliens by appointing Thrawn to the rank of Grand Admiral."

Wedge says, "So you are saying that the only way to stop this Imperial offensive is to kill Teshik?"

Mara replies, "Yes, but even that that idea has problems, from what we know, Teshik command squadron, is constantly on the move, only Teshik and the ships of his command squadron know where he is going. So finding out where Teshik will be at any one time is virtually impossible."

Wedge says, "Well that rules out killing Teshik."

Mara replies, "Yes, it is worse, we know that Teshik has been using a clone body, it is possible that Teshik has access to a single cloning cylinder, which would mean even if we killed Teshik, another clone would just take his place."

Wedge nods and says, "Agreed, though New Republic Intelligence is still uncertain whether it was the Emperor who cloned Teshik or Teshik himself, if it is the latter, that would mean that Teshik has access to cloning technology, but no enough to produce clone troops."

Luke says, "Well that is a bit of luck, though not much, if true, that should slow Teshik advance up."

Mara replies, "Yes, Teshik advance has been slow so far."

Wedge says, "You call this rate of advance slow?"

Mara replies, "Yes I do, if Teshik had access to a cloning facility like the one Thrawn had then he would have advanced much more quickly, he would control most of the galaxy by now."

Wedge says, "I would suppose Teshik next offensive will go for Coruscant and the Core Sectors."

Mara nods and replies, "He will, several of the system in the Core Sectors, will probably not put up much or even any fight, such as the Kuat system, as the orders for warships from the Empire has rapidly increased. KDY does not want to upset it biggest client by fighting them."

Wedge says, "There is a New Republic squadron guarding the Kuat system, I would think that KDY would be grateful?"

Mara replies, "No they are not 'grateful', as after the New Republic was 'born' KDY lost it major orders, as the New Republic switch to those firms that backed them, I doubt that you will find any friends in the Kuat system."

Wedge says, "Yes that was not the New Republic finest decision."

As they go on to discuss what the Empire will do next, the Imperial Military forces are already positioning themselves to start the final phases of major offensive operations against the New Republic, to remove the New Republics major industrial bases. Once these operations are complete the New Republic as a government will have ceased to exist.

The Imperial offensive to take the Core Sectors will see the downfall of the New Republic and the beginning of a New Rebellion.

To be continued.


	14. Chapter 14

**14. The End of the New Republic**

_"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."_ Winston Churchill

As the Imperial forces begin their offensive on the Core Sectors, several key systems will not put any resistance to the Imperial advance, one of these being the Kuat System.

The Core Sectors will fall within a few months.

**Kuat System**

The Imperial attack on the Kuat System is very quick, as the Kuat Systems own defence fleet has orders not to open fire on any Imperial warship, unless they open fire on them. The board of KDY has made a deal with Teshik, wherein they will not put up a fight against an Imperial occupation and the Empire will allow KDY to run its own system and business without (much) interference from the Empire.

In exchange for this freedom, KDY will sell exclusively to the Empire and no one else without the Empires permission.

With this agreement in place, the Imperial Fleet would enter the Kuat System, as they did the New Republic squadron engaged the lead elements of the Imperial Fleet, expecting the Kuat System Defence Fleet to follow. When they did not, the commander of the New Republic squadron was shocked to find out that the Kuat System had rejoined the Empire and was ordering them out of there system.

With no reinforcements available, the commander of the New Republic squadron was forces to withdrawn from the Kuat System, allowing the occupation of the Kuat System by the Empire in a record ninety-one minutes from start to finish.

The same could not be said for Coruscant.

**Coruscant**

The battle for Coruscant would last one long bloody month, before the New Republic withdrew from the system (under heavy fire from Imperial forces). The triumphal entry onto the surface of Coruscant was one of the most widely publicised events of the entire Core Sectors battles. With the securing of the Coruscant the Empires centre of operations would not initially be moved to Coruscant, instead it would remain on Bastion for the foreseeable future, as the Imperial Plaice and other building had to be search and secured, along with being rebuilt. Due to the size of these buildings, it would take several years before Coruscant would officially become the capital of the Empire again.

One of the main losses for the New Republic is the Executor class star dreadnought Guardian, this warship and its fleet covered the withdrawal of the last remains of the New Republic government during the final days of the battle for Coruscant. This was at the cost of most of the 6th fleet along with its flagship the Guardian.

The remains of the 6th fleet would be merged into the 7th fleet under General Antilles, though this amounts to only amounts to eight operational warships.

Several systems and the planet or planets within those systems that were known to be heavily pro New Republic would not be occupied instead they would be blockaded just like Kashyyyk.

One of these planets, that is, blockaded, is the planet Chandrila.

**The Siege of Chandrila**

Chandrila was the second planet in the Chandrila system of the Bormea sector, located in the Core Worlds, along the Perlemian Trade Route. It is the homeworld of Rebel Alliance leader and later New Republic Chief of State Mon Mothma.

As such, the planet Chandrila was seen by Teshik as a base for a new rebellion, until the new Empire had time to "settle in" the planet Chandrila would be blockaded, in the same way that Kashyyyk is. This way as with Kashyyyk the Empire would not waste time and resources trying to invade Chandrila.

The planets population would not go without food or other supplies, as the planet is a lush agricultural planet with its two main continents being covered with rolling, grassy plains. An idyllic world, Chandrila remained temperate year round, with gentle winters and warm summers. Dry seasons were interspersed with mild drizzles, leading to a lack of drought.

The planet Chandrila defence forces are based around starfighters, the New Republic defence fleet guarding Chandrila (6th fleet) was engaged is heavy fighting for several days before being forced to withdraw from the system. The command ship, Guardian, was heavily damaged during the fighting, it will take the New Republic several years to bring the Guardian back up to a fully operational level again, if at all.

**Core Sectors**

With most of the systems and planets in the Core Sectors secure or blockaded, the New Republic as a workable government has fallen, with those systems that are not part or strongly pro New Republic are feeling the benefits of the Empire.

The Imperial military build-up continues, with an extensive shipbuilding program along with an expansion of the Imperial Army, to guard every sector within the Empire.

Unlike the Emperor, Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik is not using the harsh draconian techniques that the Emperor, instead Teshik is using a lot more "Carrot" rather than the "Stick" that the Emperor tended to favour. This involves reducing unemployment by continuing the military build-up, his build-up involves giving each sector a full sector group of warship and troops this is a massive investment in money a resources.

This build-up is fully backed by the Imperial Council, as every council members sector is eager to have a fully equipped military protecting "there" sector, though unlike the old Empire the sectors Moff's only have limited control of their sectors military forces. Teshik does not want to create the same problems that the Emperor did, the sectors military forces will be regularly rotated so that they do not "go native" as they did after the death of the Emperor after Endor.

In this way, most "conquered" systems are unwilling to rebel against the Empire for fear of losing their very lucrative Imperial contracts this has allowing the Imperial Military to focus on the few "problem" systems that are currently blockaded. Once sufficient forces are available, some of these blockaded systems will be occupied eventually, though some like Kashyyyk will not, as that if far too dangerous.

The Kashyyyk system will remain blockaded for the foreseeable future, after all the Empire is in no hurry to try to conquer Kashyyyk.

**Six Months Later**

With the fall of Coruscant, the "seat" of the New Republic government is now the Executor class star dreadnaught Lusankya.

**Lusankya, Flagship New Republic Fleet**

After much, verbal prodding by Chief of State Fey'lya, General Wedge Antilles is appointed Supreme Commander of the New Republics military forces, now being called the New Rebel Alliance, with a promotion to Fleet Admiral.

Fleet Admiral Wedge Antilles is reviewing the remaining of the New Rebel Alliances military forces, this equates to the equivalent of just two Imperial Sector Groups. The manufacture of spare parts for the Rebel Alliance fleet has begun using former bases that where abandoned when the New Republic was formed, these bases will take another year before they are anywhere near full production.

To add to Fleet Admiral Wedge Antilles problems, the headquarters for the New Rebel Alliance is now onboard the Lusankya. That means that Chief of State Fey'lya and the Alliance council is based onboard Admiral Antilles command ship and means that the Lusankya cannot be used in direct combat, instead the Lusankya will be used as the New Rebel Alliances mobile headquarters.

The Lusankya is also the base for Jedi training, with the Jedi council also onboard the Lusankya to add to Fleet Admiral Antilles problems.

The new Rebel Alliance is having problems recruiting allies, as most of the governments that backed the old Rebel Alliance (then the New Republic) are unwilling to back the new Rebel Alliance, as the new Empire is proving to be much more effective than the old Empire and the New Republic. The lack of harsh repression of the old Empire, that mass disappearances and executions of the old Empire are gone, leaving people wondering why they need to back a fresh rebellion.

No one wants another war or even another rebellion.

Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik has a strategy to effectively neutralize the new Rebel Alliance and unite the galaxy under the new Empire.

**Night Hammer**

Onboard the Night Hammer, Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik is pleased with the progress his Empire is evolving into, with the harsh repression of the past gone and the continued build up of the Imperial military continuing to provide jobs, the population of the Empire is content.

The final Imperial holdout, the Protectorate has joined the Empire, with Adalric Cessius Brandl becoming Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik right hand just as Vader had been to the Emperor.

This is just as Adalric Brandl hand seen in his visions.

The Protectorate under the Empire would remain semi independent (to keep Adalric Brandl happy) of the Empire. With Fleet Admiral Feyet Kiez, begin moved to command one of the Elite Imperial command squadrons, with his flagship being the Imperial II class star destroyer Empire.

The rest of the Imperial military forces would remain behind to protect the three systems of the Protectorate, even though these forces could be used elsewhere, Grand Admiral Teshik deemed it worthwhile, with a Sith at his side.

Adalric Brandl's son, Jaalib Brandl would simply travel around the Empire in his own Imperial II class star destroyer, the Elusive, pocking his noise into other people's business and finding trouble, becoming a troubleshooter at large for Grand Admiral Teshik.

Unlike Vader (and his farther) Jaalib Brandl does not execute crewmembers who fail, instead he gives them a chance to correct there error, if they still fail they are transferred of the Elusive (this has all the hallmarks of Fleet Admiral Feyet Kiez methods that seem to have rubbed off on Jaalib Brandl). The methods that Jaalib Brandl employ's will turn the Elusive into one they growing number of elite number of Imperial II class star destroyers.

The Imperial II class star destroyer Elusive is classified as a command squadron even though it is only one warship, giving the Elusive and Jaalib Brandl to call for reinforcements if needed.

Teshik would leave the running of the civil administration to the Imperial Council and the running of the expansion of the Imperial Military to the Imperial High Command, as they will be so occupied with doing this. Teshik correctly assumed they would not be in a position to do anything else for at least five years, allowing Teshik to run the Empire with a relatively light touch.

Once certain members of the Imperial Council become a problem Teshik would simply expose them to the other members of the Imperial Council that would deal with the troublemakers. This way the Imperial Council members are always watching their backs and making sure that they run there sectors as efficiently as possible, otherwise they will lose everything.

Captain Frisk is saying, "All the key systems are now under the Empires control, production is up, as is recruitment to the Imperial military."

Teshik states, "That is good, that means that the various members of the Imperial Council will be fully occupied for the next few years, in addition I have ordered the sectors commanders to keep a close eye on the sector governors just in case they try anything."

Captain Frisk says, "Yes sir that should be strong enough to stop any of them building up their own personnel fiefdom, as Disra had tried to do."

Teshik asks, "What about the project at Sanctuary base how long until it is completed?"

Captain Frisk looking as his data pad says, "The last report from General John's reports that with the recent increase in supplies and personnel the project should be completed within the next twelve to eighteen months."

General Stephen John's (formally Brigadier now fully General) is the commander of Sanctuary base of General Johns has been expanding Sanctuary base since Teshik assumed command of Thrawn's forces after Thrawn's death. Since then Sanctuary base has expanded at a slow but steady pace, with the recent influx of resources and personnel (thanks to the Corporate Sector Authority) Sanctuary base has been able to accelerate the completion of one project that the Emperor has given Teshik to finish.

Sanctuary base has become Teshik secret research centre and construction site of several projects.

Teshik asks, "What about the remains of the so called New Republic military?"

Captain Frisk looking as his data pad says, "Intelligence reports that the remains of the New Republics military forces have dispersed, most seem to be located in to Outer Rim Territories. Intelligence suspects that they are activating there old bases that they abandoned when the Rebels became the New Republic."

Teshik interrupts and says, "That would the most likely course of action for them, they are simply going with what they know best though this time I suspect that not as many systems will support a new rebellion, due to my preparations in dealing with those governments that supported them the last time."

Captain Frisk says, "Yes sir, all in all, the Empire is relatively secure, until the Imperial Navy and Army are at full strength in each sector, we will have to keep 'shuffling' forces from one problems sector to another. Fortunately there are very few problem sectors, as the military build up is keep the unemployment levels well down, thus not providing a 'breeding ground' for a new rebellion."

Teshik asks, "I would assume that this also includes non-human races as well?"

Captain Frisk says, "Yes sir, as per your orders, this is working wonders will the non-human races within the Empire."

Teshik states, "As I expected it to do."

Pausing for a moment Teshik looks at the date, then says, "Captain, inform the fleet that my command squadron will be out of contact for a few weeks, they are to continue as ordered."

Captain Frisk says, "Yes sir, I will issue the orders" Captain Frisk and the Imperial military do not find these orders unusual, as they all know that Teshik has a secret base somewhere in the Unknown Regions. During Teshik's visits to this base, he is out of communications for several weeks.

However, this time Teshik is not going to Sanctuary Base Teshik will be going elsewhere in the Unknown Regions, a location Teshik has been searching for, for a long time.

Three hours later the Teshik's command squadron into hyperspace.

To be continued.


	15. Chapter 15

**15. Mitth'raw'nuruodo Return's**

_"We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire...Give us the tools and we will finish the job."_ Winston Churchill

Deep within the Unknown Regions is the headquarters of the Empire of the Hand is based on a planet called Nirauan, with the fortress call the Hand of Thrawn.

Within this fortress is a fully equipped command centre and library with all the information on not only the Empire of the Hand, but also other information as well.

**Thrawn's Quarters**

Hand of Thrawn fortress, ten years after Thrawn's death during the Battle of Bilbringi.

The commander of the Hand of Thrawn fortress who is also the commander of Thrawn's own personnel Household Phalanx guard, Chiss Commander Kres'ten'tarthi, with General Fel being his nominal superior officer while Admiral Parck is not present.

As such Commander Kres'ten'tarthi can always be found in the command centre of the Hand of Thrawn fortress monitoring what is going on.

A Chiss engineer monitoring the power levels notices a strange power fluctuation, and says, "Commander I have a power fluctuation on grid nine."

Commander Kres'ten'tarthi calls up the information on his display and replies, "Reroute that power grid and get maintenance onto it."

The Chiss engineer replies, "Yes sir" and then tries to carry out the orders, but the engineer is unable and then says, "Commander, I am unable to reroute grid nine, as the main computer says I have insufficient clearance to do so."

Commander Kres'ten'tarthi checks what the operators has just told him and he confirms that it is true, Commander Kres'ten'tarthi then uses his own command codes to reroute grid nine, this also fails, at this time General Fel enters the command centre.

General Fel leans over Commander Kres'ten'tarthi shoulder to see what the problem is, seeing that there is a power drain grid nine, General Fel moves to his own station and get a more detailed view of the problem.

After several minutes General Fel suddenly discovers where the power drain from grid nine is originating from, Thrawn's own quarters, in the Hand of Thrawn fortress, Commander Kres'ten'tarthi has also reach the same conclusion as well. Both of them look at each other, with both of them coming to the same unspoken conclusion, that Thrawn's quarters had been sealed ten years ago on his death. When Thrawn was, last at his fortress he had told Admiral Parck that he would return ten years after his death and Thrawn always kept his word.

Admiral Parck was well aware of Teshik's efforts in rebuilding the Empire, but Admiral Parck was not interested in Teshik's efforts, only in carrying out Thrawn's final orders. Since Thrawn's death ten years ago, the Empire of the Hand had explored the equivalent to the size of fifty sectors, expanding the size of the explored space equivalent to 250 sectors in size, an impressive achievement.

Even though the forces of the Empire of the Hand where small (equivalent to two full Sector Groups in numbers of ship), the Empire of the Hand has its own shipbuilding facilities. Admittedly, they are very small but they do provide the necessary replacement ships and new ships for the Empire of the Hand.

Now just after the tenth anniversary of Thrawn's death his quarters where showing signs of activation and the bases computers are not allowing the power demands to be shut down without the use of Thrawn's own command codes.

General Fel is the first to speak, he says, "Commander Kres'ten'tarthi come with me please and bring two guards."

Commander Kres'ten'tarthi replies, "Yes sir" and indicates to two Chiss guards to follow them.

A short distance later, all four of them are at Thrawn's quarters that have been sealed since his death ten years ago, Commander Kres'ten'tarthi breaks the seal, then enters followed by General Fel, with the two Chiss guards remaining outside.

After looking around Thrawn's quarters in silence, neither of them can find the reason for the power drain in Thrawn's quarters, as all the equipment appears to be turned off, Commander Kres'ten'tarthi says, "What now?"

A mechanical voice says, "Identity recognised, access granted" with that a secret entrance opens up, with a blast of dust coming out of the opening, General Fel and Commander Kres'ten'tarthi exchange glances, then enter.

As they both descend, General Fel manages to discover and then deliberately trip a conner net that he sees just in time. A conner net is a small net that can be used as traps against intruders. In this application, they can be lethal.

General Fel and Commander Kres'ten'tarthi now proceed more slowly downwards, soon they will discover Thrawn's secret cloning chamber.

**Thrawn's Cloning Chamber**

General Fel and Commander Kres'ten'tarthi run into two more of the disguised conner nets along the way, both of which General Fel insisted on tripping and disposing of, though Commander Kres'ten'tarthi was not convinced that that was necessary but on the other hand he could not see how it could hurt, either. If the first net hadn't triggered any reaction and there is no indication that it had, then taking down the other two probably wouldn't do anything, either and at least it gave the service droids something to do, that back out of their way.

As they both went deeper, the background hum had also increased as they travelled down the tunnel, reaching a volume where Commander Kres'ten'tarthi could definitely tell it was coming from above them. They are now both directly under the fortress's huge power generator undoubtedly sealed safely away inside solid rock beyond their reach this would explain the power tap into grid nine, this area must have been constructed when the fortress was first built.

Eventually, after perhaps another hundred meters or so, the tunnel ended in a large, well-lit room. General Fel and Commander Kres'ten'tarthi both stood together at the archway entrance.

General Fel states, "I knew he'd have a place like this stashed away. Even in his own fortress, hidden away from his own people. I just knew it, but until now I did not know where it was."

Commander Kres'ten'tarthi nodded silently in agreement with General Fel, gazing into the chamber. It was roughly circular, dome-shaped at the top, sixty meters across at the base, and a good ten high at the centre, all carved out of solid rock. A three-meter-wide ring of tiled floor ran around the outer edge at the level of the tunnel, dropping then a meter down to the main floor, which was also tiled. Five meters up the sides, behind a protective railing, a balcony deeply indented into the rock ran two-thirds of the way around the room, its inner walls lined with electronic equipment.

On the main floor to their far right was a more modest version of the command centre on the upper floor of the Hand of Thrawn fortress. This one was only a single ring of consoles, cantered not on a galactic holo but on the wide, squat cylinder of a super storage library/computer information base. Again, as in the fortress above, a handful of glowing lights indicated the equipment was waiting patiently for orders, now that the equipment was activate. The rest of the main floor was empty except for a row of furniture lined up against one edge of the raised walkway beneath a plastic sheet.

From the first moment they had entered the room, General Fel's full attention was focused on the deep alcove coming off the main room over to their left. Sealed there behind a solid transparisteel wall was a complete cloning apparatus: a Spaarti cylinder wrapped in nutrient tubes and flash-learning cables, surrounded by support equipment. All of it tied into a humming fusion generator and floating gently in the centre of the cylinder, asleep or perhaps not even yet truly alive is a blue-skinned adult humanoid, a humanoid with an exceptionally familiar, if a much younger face.

Grand Admiral Thrawn.

For several monuments, they both just stand there looking at the Spaarti cloning cylinders occupant.

General Fel facing the Spaarti cloning cylinder says quietly, "Ten years, just like you said," Speaking to the clone of Thrawn floating in the Spaarti cylinder, then pausing for a moment again, and says, "He said that he'd return in ten years, he always kept his word."

Then General Fel suddenly laughs aloud, realizing what Thrawn had just achieved and says, "The old fraud" the words that General Fel mutters are in sharp contrast to the awe General Fel that could see in Commander Kres'ten'tarthi eye's. General Fel could sympathize, the alcove and its occupant where intimidating in their subtle grandeur, and in their equally quiet threat that the occupant of the cloning cylinder posed to the Empires enemies. Not only that what is could mean for the Empire of the Hand.

General Fel was now looking at the controls, but not touching them, says, "Look like Thrawn had the cycle set on a ten-year timer and just reset it back to zero every time he dropped by for a visit, along with updating the flash teach equipment with a scan of his updated memories. Looks like we now know what triggered the power surge on grid nine. As this small power generator is enough to power this single Spaarti cylinder for decades, but the reawakening requires much more power. This much be what Thrawn meant by 'awaiting his signal' very clever."

Commander Kres'ten'tarthi who seemed to come out of his daze, says, "We need to get him out of there."

General Fel who is still looking at the controls says, "Agreed, a clone of Thrawn is still Thrawn, especially with Thrawn's memories, even if they are ten years out of date. Commander Kres'ten'tarthi go a fetch some help, but do not broadcast what we have found down here, only get a few people to start with, along with the necessary medical equipment."

Just as Commander Kres'ten'tarthi is about to reply, General Fel adds, "Put the base on alert, just to be on the safe side, have the fortresses shield raised."

Commander Kres'ten'tarthi replies, "Yes sir." With that Commander Kres'ten'tarthi heads for the stairs back to the entrance, still in a daze about what they have discovered.

**One Hour Later**

A small team of a dozen medics and engineers are very carefully examining the Spaarti cloning cylinder and the flash teach equipment, along with the apparently large amount of information stored in the flash teach memory banks than would be normal for a clone.

One of the medics speculates that Thrawn uploaded a full scan of his brain this would give his clone the full life experiences of Thrawn, making the clone exactly like Thrawn up to ten years ago.

After several more hours, the small team is confident that the awakening process should be allowed to proceed, General Fel says, "Very well proceed awaken Thrawn."

With that order the small team of a dozen medics and engineers, activate the Spaarti cloning cylinder, the process of awakening does not take long, the Spaarti cloning cylinder drains the liquid suspending the clone of Thrawn, then downloads Thrawn's memories into the body.

After the process is completed, the medics lift Thrawn out the Spaarti cloning cylinder onto a medical gurney and start a medical examination of Thrawn's vital signs. Several minutes later one of the medics turns to General Fel and says, "Sir, the life signs are stable, I would recommend allowing him to awaken at his own pace."

General Fel breathes a sigh of relief, along with Commander Kres'ten'tarthi, General Fel ask, "How long until Thrawn awakens?"

The medic replies, "Anytime from a few minutes to a few hours. We will continue to monitor until he is awake."

General Fel says, "Good, Commander Kres'ten'tarthi, we will need Admiral Parck here as soon as possible, can you see to the arrangements and then return here?"

Commander Kres'ten'tarthi replies, "Yes sir I will" and leaves to makes the arrangements for Admiral Parck to come to the Hand of Thrawn fortress as quickly as possible.

Shortly afterwards, a courier ship departs from the Hand of Thrawn fortress, for Admiral Parck's current location within the Empire of the Hand.

**Two Hours Later**

Slowly Thrawn awakens and looks around the room, observing who is present and there expressions then Thrawn says in his usual tone, "So I was dead then?" this is more of a statement than a question.

Even so, General Fel responds, "Yes sir"

Thrawn then nods slightly and says, "A lot must have happened in the past ten years" indicating that the clone of Thrawn realizes how long it has been since the original Thrawn's death.

General Fel responds again, "Yes sir, a lot has changed. I would suggest for the moment you rest and let the medics check you out, Admiral Parck is on his way back here now."

Thrawn responds, "Good work General, once the medics have given me a clean bill of health you can start briefing me on what has happen since my 'leave of absence' over the past ten years."

General Fel replies, "I will start preparations right away, sir." Then leaves to begin perpetrations to explain Thrawn's return to Admiral Parck first.

Then the much more difficult task of explaining that Teshik has rebuilt the Empire and the so called New Republic has been crushed.

General Fel also will prepare a briefing from Grand Admiral Thrawn on the events of the past ten years the briefing will consist of a summery and a more detailed version.

When General Fel returns to the cloning chamber, he find that Thrawn is now dressed in his Grand Admirals uniform, General Fel can't help but smile at Thrawn in his uniform, this will give much need hope to the remains of the Empire.

Grand Admiral Thrawn, looks as General Fel and says, "General rebuilding the Empire this time will not be as easy as it was ten years ago, I assume the after my death the various Imperial factions either briefly united then started fighting amongst themselves again?"

General Fel replies, "No Admiral Grand Admiral Teshik has rebuilt the Empire, the New Republic has been crushed, Grand Admiral Teshik commands a vast Imperial military war machine. As we speak it is still expanding at a very rapid rate, even after the New Republic was crushed."

Grand Admiral Thrawn eyes narrow then he says, "Let move to my quarters and mu own briefing room, you can fill be in on the highlights of what has happened after that."

General Fel replies, "Yes sir" and walks with Grand Admiral Thrawn towards the stairs that lead to Thrawn's quarters, General Fel continues, "After a year of civil war the Emperor returned in a clone."

Half way up the stairs, Grand Admiral Thrawn says, "So the Emperor did have another cloning facility" then thinking for a few moment Thrawn asks, "I assume it was on Byss?"

General Fel replies, "Yes sir, it was, however Byss was destroyed" then as they slowly make there was up the stairs General Fel continues to fill Grand Admiral Thrawn on what has happened after that. By the time, the two of them have reached Thrawn's quarters and his briefing room General Fel has finished his summery of the events over the past ten years.

Over the next seven days General Fel gives a much more detailed briefing of not only what has happened over the past ten years but also the state of the Empire of the Hand and state of exploration of the Unknown Regions.

On hearing, the news of Grand Admiral Teshik victory over the New Republic, Thrawn's only comment is one word "useful" this was not the reaction, General Fel was expecting from Thrawn. Between these briefings, Thrawn has been studying his holographic art collection, along with the bios of those who are now leading the Empire and the New Rebel Alliance.

Thrawn says to General Fel, "This victory over the New Republic is very good, as it will allow much more freedom of movement then if we are still at war. I should be able to come to some terms with Grand Admiral Teshik, after all we have worked well together and from what I can gather Teshik has also cloned himself another body, so Teshik should understand why I did this."

General Fel replies, "Yes sir, should I prepare a ship for your meeting with Grand Admiral Teshik?"

Thrawn says to General Fel, "All in good time General, first thing is first, Admiral Parck will be arriving soon, then after that I will seek out Grand Admiral Teshik then we can start to move forward."

General Fel does not bother to push Thrawn on this matter and replies, "Yes sir"

After that, the rest of the senior command staff of the Hand of Thrawn fortress is informed of Thrawn's return.

**Thrawn's Quarters**

Back in his quarters, Thrawn has been thinking about how effective Admiral Parck has been at carrying out his orders, along with how to approach Grand Admiral Teshik, now that Teshik commands the entire Imperial military.

What Thrawn does not know is that Grand Admiral Teshik has discovered the location of the Hand of Thrawn Fortress and is on his way, Teshik's command squadron should arrive a few days after Admiral Parck has arrived in the Imperial class star destroyer Admonitor.

Two Grand Admirals are always better than one.

**Nineteen Days Later**

On the bridge of the Night Hammer Grand Admiral Teshik was watching the countdown for the moment when the Night Hammer and her escort ship drop out of hyperspace in orbit around a planet identified as Nirauan, the location of Thrawn's base of operations within the Unknown Regions.

Teshik thinks to himself, this base is really, well hidden, as it took me several years of investigation to find it though that is typical of Thrawn in preferring misdirection rather that direct confrontation to keep something secret.

As Hammer Squadron drops out of hyperspace, with the Night Hammer, coming out of hyperspace first, followed by the Eleemosynary and finally the 4 Victory II class star destroyers.

Grand Admiral Teshik is standing looking out of the bridge windows, can see the planet Nirauan ahead of them, he turns slightly towards Captain Frisk and asks, "Status report captain."

Captain Frisk who has been looking at his display at his command station replies, "Admiral, scans indicate that there is a lone Imperial class star destroyer in orbit, the star destroyer appears to be in geostationary orbit about a heavily shielded base. The shield appears to extend several kilometres beyond the base providing an 'umbrella' of protection for that part of the planet as well. The shield is strong enough to withstand the strongest bombardment even from a full broadside from the Night Hammer at close range."

Several of the pit crews look up from there stations as very few planets defence shields can withstand a sustained bombardment from the Night Hammers armament for very long.

Grand Admiral Teshik says, "Communications, hail both the base and the star destroyer, tell them Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik wishes to speak to the senior officer present."

From the communications pit, the communications officer replies, "Aye sir, sending now."

Grand Admiral Teshik says, "Helm keep our distance, do not close any further, have the other ships also maintain their distance."

From the Helm comes the reply, "Aye sir."

Hammer Squadron steadily comes to a complete stop, well outside of both sides weapons range.

**Hand of Thrawn Fortress**

When Hammer Squadron dropped out of hyperspace, this set of the bases automated battle alert, it took only a few moments for Thrawn, General Fel, Admiral Parck and Commander Kres'ten'tarthi to reach the fortresses control room.

Thrawn's first reaction to the all black Executor class star dreadnought is "fascinating".

Commander Kres'ten'tarthi reports, "The ships IFF identifies it as the Night Hammer, Grand Admiral Teshik command ship and from the identities of the other warships, this appears to be the warships of Hammer Squadron as well."

Thrawn in a matter of fact tone says, "Well this saves us the bother of finding Teshik."

Commander Kres'ten'tarthi reports, "The Night Hammer is hailing they are asking to speak to the commander of this facility."

Thrawn says nothing for a few moments then says, "I will deal with this, put them through to me."

Commander Kres'ten'tarthi replies, "Yes sir" then responds to the hail from the Night Hammer.

**Night Hammer**

On the bridge, Grand Admiral Teshik is awaiting the response, from the communications pit the officer says, "Sir, transmission coming in from the planet"

Teshik says, "Put it through"

In front of Teshik the holographic image of Grand Admiral Thrawn appears, from around the bridge there are a series of muffled gasps, even Captain Frisk is surprised by Thrawn appearance. Only Teshik seems unmoved by Thrawn appearing in front of him.

Thrawn says, "Greetings Grand Admiral Teshik, you seem to have done very well during my absence."

Teshik replies, "Greetings Grand Admiral Thrawn, I have made some progress in dealing with the so call New Republic." That is an understatement!

Thrawn says, "Indeed, I request permission to come onboard the Night Hammer, we have much to discuss?"

Teshik replies, "Permission granted"

**Night Hammer, One Hour Later**

The discussions between Teshik and Thrawn are short, both of them acknowledge that they are clones and that working together would be much better than fighting each other, as they had done in the past.

This time the roles will be reversed, with Teshik the public face of the Empire and Thrawn remaining in the shadows, at the same time Thrawn will continue the work to expand the Empire of the Hand, with Teshik providing resources that are coming directly to him from the CSA. These resources will allow Thrawn to expand the numbers of ships exploring the Unknown Regions in addition several deep ranged mining operations will be set up.

On one final point Teshik informs Thrawn of an extra-galactic threat that the Emperor informed Teshik about when Teshik was onboard the Death Star II at Endor, Teshik states that this alien force is preparing to invade the galaxy, though Teshik is unsure when this alien invasion will commence.

Thrawn is intrigued by this new threat, though the information that Teshik provides to Thrawn is limited, it is enough for Thrawn to begin to work on tactics to deal with this alien this alien threat. The other bit of information is that the members of the Imperial Council are unaware of this impending invasion, as the aliens have placed spies with several Imperial Council staff without the council member's knowledge.

Thrawn agrees that the minimum number of senior Imperial officers that need to be informed should be kept to a bare minimum and that none of the Imperial Council members should be informed that he is alive. As the Imperial Council Members, are very "leaky" when it comes to keeping secrets.

Teshik also informs Thrawn of the existence of Sanctuary Base along with the project that the Emperor gave Teshik, that is nearing and operational state.

Once Teshik has neutralized the new Rebel Alliance, he will be free to focus on this alien threat.

Both Grand Admirals have spare clone body's, either ready for use or soon to be ready in Thrawn's case either or both of them are killed.

To be continued.


	16. Chapter 16

**16. A Unified Empire**

_"The empires of the future are the empires of the mind."_ Winston Churchill

With the re-establishing of the alliance between Teshik and Thrawn, Teshik has allocated some advanced survey ships, in the form of the Tagge Industries Modular Taskforce Cruiser.

**Reinforcing the Empire of the Hand**

Tagge Industries Modular Taskforce Cruiser the basic design of the Modular Taskforce Cruiser is simple. In its baseline configuration, the ship consisted of a command section, a life-support system, and quarters for a skeleton crew and an engineering section. Since this is a support vessel, armament is relatively light for a warship of its size of 1,150 meters in length.

On its own, the baseline configuration does little more than transport a small amount of cargo. The real purpose of this framework is to carry mission-specific modules, such as Hospital, Inquisition, Observation, Rescue, Survey, Starfighter Carrier and Troop Transport modules to name but a few.

**Observation module**

The versions was originally designed for long-range espionage, though this version can also be used for long ranged observations of potentially hostile forces, this module carries 500 probe droids among its cargo, and is employed in observation actions from outside the border of enemy territory. This version of the Modular Taskforce Cruiser can carry up to twelve TIE Defenders for defence and long-ranged armed recon, with the TIE Defenders warhead launchers replaced by long ranged sensors.

**Survey module**

The survey module is designed for rapid planetary and system exploration operations. Assisted by its complement of airspeeders and droids, it is capable of completely analyzing a planet, including surveying for natural resources and good colony sites, within a standard day. This variant can also plot viable hyperlanes from the survey location to major trade routes.

This version of the Modular Taskforce Cruiser can carry up to twenty-four TIE Defenders for defence and long-ranged armed recon, along with five Skipray Blastboats.

Both the variants have had their hyperdrive upgraded from there standard class 3, to the much faster class 1.

It is proposed by Teshik that the Survey and Observation versions be produced for the Empire of the Hand, as these two variants will be the best suited for exploration, Thrawn agrees. Teshik will use the money and resources that provided directly to him, by CSA to manufacture these two variants, so as not to tip off the Imperial Council that Thrawn has returned.

With the Empire of the Hand now part of the Empire along with Grand Admiral Thrawn, Teshik's Empire is now much stronger than it was a few days ago.

Teshik returns to the Night Hammer, leaving Thrawn to command the Empire of the Hand.

**New Rebel Alliance, Falling**

Once there discussions are complete, Teshik has another task to deal with, the new Rebel Alliance that is forming out of the remains of the New Republic, Teshik needs to nip this in the bud before it gets out of control.

Teshik orders Imperial Intelligence to focus on finding the location of the Lusankya, as Imperial Intelligence that this is being used as the mobile headquarters of the Rebel Alliance, if the location of the Lusankya can be found then Teshik can deal with the dead and the rest should attend to itself.

It will take Imperial Intelligence many months to find the location of the Lusankya, or rather were the Lusankya will be on a certain date and time and how long the Lusankya will remain at that location.

During the next few months, Teshik has been slowly building up a strike forces to capture the Lusankya this force consists of Hammer Squadron, along with thirty Imperial II class star destroyers, seventy-five Vindicator class heavy cruisers, one hundred eleven Enforcer class patrol cruisers and twenty Interdictor class cruisers.

This includes the Imperial II class star destroyers Elusive and Jaalib Brandl as part of the attack force.

Teshik thinks to himself a formidable force possibly a bit of overkill, but as the Emperor had always said, better too much firepower than too little or just enough. Now that I have the location of the Lusankya this will be a hard battle as I need to capture the Rebel leaders, not kill them, as killing them would make them martyrs to the Rebel cause.

The Imperial fleet jumps into hyperspace towards the location of the Lusankya, very shortly the Rebels will be in for a surprise.

**The Capture**

As the Imperial fleet drops out of hyperspace, the Interdictor cruisers immediately begin powering up there GWP, to prevent the Lusankya from escaping into hyperspace. The Lusankya and her small escort force powers up there shields and weapons, along with launching there fighters.

The Imperial class star destroyers begin to engage the Lusankya escort ships, with the remaining Imperial warships split between defending the Interdictor cruisers and supporting the Imperial class star destroyers.

Hammer Squadron initially remains at the edge of the battle with the Night Hammer remaining out of range of the Rebels weapons, this is not characteristic of Teshik, though this time Teshik's plan is to capture the Lusankya not destroy her. His forces here could easily do this, all he would have to do is close with the Lusankya and open fire with the Night Hammers formidable armament, add to that the firepower of his fleet, it would not take long to destroy the Lusankya.

As the battle progresses the Lusankya escorting warships are quickly picked off, one by one, leaving only the Lusankya remaining, along with the remains of her fighter forces, it has only taken the Imperial fleet two hours to achieve this.

The remaining Rebels are not concentrating on defending the Lusankya, though they have little hope of victory against the Imperial fleet, the Lusankya herself has suffered very little battle damage up to this point.

The Imperial fleet has lost one Imperial class star destroyer and eleven Enforcer class patrol cruisers and nine Vindicator class heavy cruisers, with numerous other Imperial warships damaged to various degrees. These losses are not critical, in fact they are below Grand Admiral Teshik estimated losses at this point in the battle.

**Night Hammer**

On the bridge of the Night Hammer Grand Admiral Teshik has been watching the battle evolve he says, "Helm bring the Night Hammer within weapons range, guns prepare to fire Ion Cannons only, engineering boost power to the shields."

From around the bridge there are a series of "aye sir", the Night Hammer begins to move towards the Lusankya.

**Lusankya**

On the bridge of the Lusankya Fleet Admiral Wedge Antilles can see the Imperial warships pulling back out of weapons range, but not withdrawing, they are mealy containing the Lusankya. In addition, all Imperial fighters have broken of their engagements with the remaining Rebels fighters, Admiral Antilles orders that his fighters return to rearm and refuel.

Admiral Antilles looking at the tactical display as the Night Hammer closes on the Lusankya he says, "So Grand Admiral Teshik wants to finish us off himself."

Beside him Luke Skywalker, asks, "Why would he do this, he could use his fleet to destroy this ship, after all even the Lusankya cannot stand up to the firepower of that number of warships."

Admiral Antilles replies, "My guess would be that this would be symbolic and it would cement his leadership of the Empire."

**Night Hammer**

From the tactical pit the officer says, "We are with weapons range."

Teshik says, "Open fire with Ion Cannons only, all other weapons defensive fire only, understood?"

From the tactical pit the officer replies, "Yes Admiral, understood."

From the port side of the Night Hammer a ripple of blue Ion Cannon bolts shoot out towards the Lusankya impacting against the Lusankya shields and hull.

**Lusankya**

As the blue Ion Cannon bolts strike the Lusankya Admiral Antilles says, "Ion Cannons, they mean to capture the Lusankya, all available weapons return fire."

From the Lusankya a ripple of return fire begins to impact the Night Hammers shields, though this return fire almost immediately begins to weaken as the Ion Cannon bolts begins to knock out systems all over the Lusankya.

After several minutes of Ion Cannon, the Lusankya primary systems shuts down, the Lusankya is now dead in space, with only emergency backup systems available. The affects of the Ion Cannons fire can be fixed but it will take several days to get the Lusankya fully operational again and they do not have that much time, or so they think!

The Night Hammer suddenly stops firing once the Lusankya is dead in space.

An early silence falls over the bridge of the Lusankya and the bridge crew are desperately trying to bring the various knocked out systems back online.

**Night Hammer**

With the Lusankya now disabled Teshik says, "Hail the Lusankya"

From the communications pit comes the reply, "Yes Admiral, sending hail now."

Several minutes go by before the comm in front of Teshik springs to life and the image of Admiral Antilles and says, "I would assume that you are asking for my ships surrender?"

Teshik replies, "You would assume wrong Admiral Antilles, I am here to ask for representatives of what was known as the New Republic, now known as the New Rebel Alliance, to come over to my command ship. I will guarantee their safety, in addition I will take no hostile action against your ship, unless you strike first, while the representatives are onboard my ship."

On the display, Teshik can see that his offer has taken Admiral Antilles by complete surprise, for a few moments Admiral Antilles says nothing, then he says, "I will need time to discuss your offer."

Teshik nods ever so slightly and replies, "You have one hour no more and please do not try anything daft, I am offering you a chance do not mess it up, understood?"

Admiral Antilles responds, "Understood, one hour admiral."

The communication is ended on the bridge a one hour countdown is started.

Captain Frisk walks up to Teshik command station and asks, "Do you think the Rebels will go for this offer sir?"

Teshik smiles at Captain Frisk and replies, "Yes captain, I think that they will do and they will try to use it to buy time for the Lusankya to be made operational again, so that they can try to punch out of this trap. That strategy will fail as you know."

Captain Frisk says, "Yes sir, after all we also have capture groups standing by ready to pull the Lusankya out of hyperspace if she was able to break through here and jump into hyperspace."

**One Hour Later**

Just as the one hour deadline is almost up, the Lusankya transmits to the Night Hammer, Admiral Antilles appears in front of Teshik and says, "Admiral your terms have been accepted. A delegation will come onboard your ship to hear what you have to say."

Teshik his face unchanged replies, "That is good to hear Admiral I will expect your delegation shortly."

Admiral Antilles says, "Good we will send them over in the Falcon, it that acceptable?"

Teshik replies, "That is acceptable, how many do you wish to send?"

Admiral Antilles says, "General Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, Jedi Master Skywalker, Chief of State Fey'lya, along with several aids, fifteen in total."

Teshik replies, "That is also acceptable, how long until they launch?"

Admiral Antilles says, "About twenty minutes"

Teshik replies, "Good I will have a formal guard of honour waiting in the main hanger bay."

The communication is ended.

Teshik says, "Captain Frisk, prepare a guard of honour for our guests."

Captain Frisk replies, "Yes sir" and goes about arranging the guard of honour for the main hanger bay.

Teshik then turns in his chair towards Jaalib Brandl who has been watching the events unfold and says, "Jaalib, go down to the main hanger to make sure that Skywalker does not try to read out people's minds."

Jaalib Brandl grins and replies, "Sure, on my way" and heads towards the turbolift.

Teshik says, "Captain, I will be in the main briefing room with our guests, you know what to do if they try anything?"

Captain Frisk replies, "Yes sir"

Teshik gets up and leaves the bridge, leaving Captain Frisk in charge.

**Night Hammer, Main Shuttle Bay**

As the Flacon touches down, Han Solo and Chewbacca can see the guard of honour waiting for them, Han Solo is in his general's uniform (which he hates) Chewbacca lets out a low moan.

The Flacon's ramp lowers, first out is Skywalker followed by Princess Leia, Chief of State Fey'lya then the aids and finally Han Solo and Chewbacca.

As the Imperial officer formally welcomes them onboard the Night Hammer, from one of the cluster of turbolift, a teenager steps out and walk towards the group, attached to his right his is a lightsabre.

Skywalker is the first to sense the presence Skywalker turns towards the approaching teenager who seems unconcerned (even bored) with what is going on around him.

The reaction from the Imperial officer is different, he immediately snaps to attention and says, "My lord" and deeply bows.

Jaalib Brandl shakes his head slightly and giggles at what the Imperial officer has just said to him, something that surprises everyone, he says, "Hi, I am Jaalib Brandl, nice to meet you all."

Skywalker asks, "You're a Sith?"

Jaalib Brandl who is still smiling replies, "Nope, just someone who knows how to use the force" in a tone that is very dismissive of the question, in a friendly way.

Before Skywalker can continue, Princess Leia in a thoughtful voice says, "Jaalib Brandl any relation to Adalric Cessius Brandl, the former Imperial Inquisitor?"

Jaalib Brandl replies, "Yes he is my father and to answer your next question I am not my father's son."

Several of the Rebel Alliance aids take a step back.

Jaalib Brandl says, "I am here to escort you to Grand Admiral Teshik, this way please."

The Rebel Alliance delegation follows Jaalib Brandl to their meeting with Grand Admiral Teshik.

**The Truth**

Once they are all settled into their chairs and introductions have been made, Teshik is the first one to speak. What he says is part truth, part lie, though the Rebels do not know this, they will incorrectly assume that it is all the truth, as there is no one around the can contradict Teshik account of what he is saying.

Over the next few hours Teshik informs them of the truth, in the there is an extra galactic invasion of this galaxy and that the Rebel Alliance has been infiltrated by these aliens, that are using the New Rebellion for their own needs. This is partially true what Teshik is telling the representatives of the Rebel Alliance, as the Emperor, had no intention of giving up power once this alien threat had passed.

Along with the fact that the Death Star was built to defeat the aliens and was not intended to destroy Alderaan, again, this is not the whole truth, but it is nothing that can be disproved, as everyone that was involved in the first Death Star is now dead, except Teshik.

Teshik was not stupid as to inform the representatives of the Rebel Alliance of that bit of information and as he was the only one who knew of this, the Rebel Alliance would never find this out.

As the briefing goes on, all the Rebel Alliance members listen in stunned silence as Teshik briefs them, along with showing intelligence information and images of the gathering alien fleet at the edge of their galaxy.

At the end of the briefing Teshik says, "Only now, at the end, do you understand."

Skywalker's head snaps up at what Teshik has just said and he states, "The Emperor said the same thing when I was onboard the second Death Star."

Teshik replies, "I know."

No one says anything, they all realise that without the Empire and it military resources, there would be little hope in defeating these alien invaders.

Princess Leia who has now managed to find her voice says, "We were so wrong in our reason of doing what we did, but why did the Emperor simply not tell the Imperial Senate?"

Teshik replies, "Two reasons, firstly because the former Old Republic Senate and then the Imperial Senate would never have believed him, Princess Leia as a former Senator would you have believed the Emperor back then?"

Princess Leia thinks for a few moments and says, "No."

Teshik continues, "Secondly the Emperor knew that these aliens had infiltrated the Imperial Senate, possibly even the Old Republic Senate as well and if he has informed the Imperial Senate the aliens would have known about it and changed their plans. This would have caused problems for the long term planning against these aliens."

Princess Leia says, "Yes I see that."

Teshik says, "You have a lot to discuss, I suggest you return to the Lusankya to discuss this and my offer of a full pardon for all members of the Rebel Alliance, including those that are currently in prison."

Chief of State Fey'lya who had not said anything so far finally finds his voice and says, "Thank you Grand Admiral, how long do we have to make a decision?"

Teshik replies, "As long as you like, I will be dispersing the fleet after this meeting and along my command squadron will remain, I already know that you will not flee, as I found you once I will be able to do so again."

The meeting then break up, the Rebel Alliance member return to the Lusankya.

Shortly after their return, the Imperial fleet disperses, just as Teshik had predicted the Rebels do not attempt to flee.

**Six Weeks Later**

After much debate, the New Rebel Alliance lays down its arms.

Teshik gives all members of the Rebel Alliance full pardons, the Lusankya remains under the command of Admiral Antilles, along with all the remaining ships of what once was the New Republic Fleet, later the New Rebel Alliance Fleet, also fall under Admiral Antilles command.

The New Rebel Alliance Fleet becomes the 25th Imperial Fleet.

The Rebellion is finally over.

**Rebellion Breakup**

A few weeks later, the New Rebel Alliance begins to break up, once the news is out of their formal surrender to the Empire and sensation of hostiles. Over the next year or so the vast majority of the New Rebel Alliance members surrender and receive their pardons, a few choose to try to fight on, they will fail, the Second Empire is here to stay.

Now Grand Admiral Teshik has one last major threat to deal with, with a united and rapidly growing Empire and Imperial military behind him, along with the fact the he is not the only Grand Admiral still alive, the extinction of an extra galactic race is assured.

At the edge of the galaxy, the leader of the aliens known as Yuuzhan Vong is worried about these recent developments, for the first time in his life Warmaster Tsavong Lah did not know what to do. The intended attack had been called off and the Yuuzhan Vong fleet concentrated on a few desolate systems on the edge of this galaxy, waited for Warmaster Tsavong Lah orders.

To be continued.


	17. Chapter 17

**17. A New Empire Begins**

_"I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter."_ Winston Churchill

**The Gathering**

With the former Rebel Alliance members now either retired or being integrated into the fleet commanded by Admiral Antilles, who has decided to stay on and become part of the Imperial Military to fight the aliens. Admiral Antilles retains command of the Lusankya (that is being repaired and updated), along with the other warships of what once was the Rebel Alliance Fleet.

Onboard the Night Hammer Grand Admiral Teshik along with Grand Admiral Thrawn were waiting for the former leaders of the New Republic to arrive, it had been a year since the New Republic had surrendered to the Empire, or rather to Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik. Teshik had kept his word, in that all members of the former New Republic that had turned themselves in word be given a full pardon and set free.

Now all that remained to deal with was the external alien threat that Grand Admiral Thrawn has discovered when exploring the Unknown Regions many decades ago.

Both Teshik and Thrawn are standing looking out of the main bridge windows at the expanse of the Night Hammers hull while waiting for Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princes Leia, Maria Jade and Admiral Antilles along with several other members of the former New Republic government and military.

Also on the bridge is Jaalib Brandl who has come along for the ride and too see the expressions on the former New Republic government and military when Teshik reveals the extra galactic threat to this galaxy.

Once, the former members of the New Republic's government and military where gathered on the bridge, Teshik says, "We will be making a short jump into hyperspace, it will only take a few minutes to reach our destination." Before anyone can say anything Teshik raises his hand and continues, "That answers to all your questions will be answered at the end of our short journey."

With only the slightest of gestures at Captain Frisk, Captain Frisk says, "Jump the ship into hyperspace to the pre-determined coordinates."

The Night Hammer jumps smoothly into hyperspace, the former members of the New Republic's government and military each exchange glances wondering, where they are going and what Grand Admiral Teshik is up to, Teshik is not saying anything.

**Rendezvous Point**

As the Night Hammer dropped out of hyperspace, the former members of the New Republic's government and military are looking out of the main bridge windows, they can see four large warships ahead of them.

Admiral Antilles glancing across at Grand Admiral Teshik, who is looking at the former members of the New Republic's government and military, Teshik nods at Admiral Antilles, who walks over to Grand Admiral Teshik and asks, "Sir what class are those warships, they seem familiar."

Grand Admiral Teshik in a perfectly neutral tone replies, "To answer your question Admiral Antilles, they are Sovereign class star dreadnoughts."

Admiral Antilles says, "I thought that they were destroyed when Byss was destroyed?"

Teshik replies, "No they were not, prior to the destruction of Byss the Emperor ordered that those four Sovereign class star dreadnoughts be transferred to my command, to be completed at a secret location, known only to me."

Admiral Antilles says nothing in reply, as he suddenly realises that the now dead Emperor had been doing some long term panning again. These four Sovereign class Star Dreadnoughts in the hands of a Grand Admiral, makes Admiral Antilles shiver.

Admiral Antilles turns to look out at the four Sovereign class Star Dreadnoughts, as the Night Hammer approaches them.

**Sovereign class Star Dreadnought**

The 15-kilometer-long Sovereign class Star Dreadnought is one of the largest Imperial warship designs, surpassed only by the Eclipse class Star Dreadnought and Executor class Star Dreadnought.

The Sovereign class was essentially a smaller cousin to the Eclipse class design, with fewer weapons, a slower hyperdrive, and a smaller complement of starfighters and crew. Nevertheless, the Sovereign class ships were vastly larger than almost any other warships they might encounter, and designed to instil fear in any enemies of the Empire.

These Star Dreadnoughts boast 500 heavy turbolaser cannons, 500 turbolaser batteries, 75 ion cannons, 100 tractor beam projectors, and 5 gravity well projectors. They are equipped with an axial superlaser designed to devastate a world, penetrating even the strongest planetary shields.

The Sovereign class needed 605,745 individuals to crew each vessel.

Many Sovereigns were planned, with the first, Sovereign, undergoing construction at the time of the first defeat of the resurrected Emperor, this first ship along with the three other under construction were thought to be destroyed. When Byss was destroyed but this was not the case these first four Sovereign class Star Dreadnoughts were shipped to Teshik base in the Unknown Regions so that they can be finished, this was by the late Emperors order.

The first four Sovereign class Star Dreadnoughts were originally named Sovereign, Autarch, Heresiarch, and Despot. Teshik has changed the last three names to the Monarch, Emperor and King, as Teshik did not care for the original names.

**Sovereign**

Once, Teshik had transferred to the Sovereign from the Night Hammer along with the former members of the New Republic's government and military. Thrawn then transferred to the Monarch, this would become Thrawn's new flagship, just as the Sovereign would become Teshik's new command ship.

Once the Night Hammer is on a parallel course with the Sovereign, Teshik indicates that they will be transferring to the Sovereign, with the exception of Thrawn who will transfer over to the Monarch.

Teshik and Captain Frisk will travel in separate shuttles over to the Sovereign it will also take two shuttles to transfer over the former members of the New Republic's government and military.

Once onboard the Sovereign the former members of the New Republic will be escorted to a large meeting room, this room has been set up to brief them on the threat to the galaxy and alien race from another galaxy called the Yuuzhan Vong.

**Yuuzhan Vong Breifing**

In the briefing room, there is Grand Admiral Teshik, Captain Frisk who will be briefing the former members of the New Republic's government and military in the Yuuzhan Vong threat, the former members of the New Republic at this point have no idea what the briefing is about. Though the former members of the New Republic do think it may be about the four Sovereign class Star Dreadnoughts, they are wrong.

Once everyone has settled down Teshik says, "This is a curtsey briefing, be aware the Empire does not normally give high level briefings of this kind to civilians, especially former enemies. However due to the nature of this briefing both myself and Grand Admiral Thrawn thought it would be useful in briefing the former members of the New Republic."

The former members of the New Republic exchange puzzled glances, but no once says anything.

Teshik says, "Captain Frisk will be giving this briefing, the first item is that I believe that you have discovered that this alien races race name is the Yuuzhan Vong."

Captain Frisk says, "Yes Admiral, it is the Yuuzhan Vong, from Imperial Intelligence observations of this race we have been able to gather a large amount of information on them" Captain Frisk touches a holographic display that will call up the various displays as he begins his briefing.

Captain Frisk says, "The Yuuzhan Vong and their Chazrach slaves are among the few alien species known to originate outside the galaxy (the only known others being the Kwa, Silentium, and Abominor). The Yuuzhan Vong resembled Humans in form, though they are taller and heavier than the average Human and had less hair on their heads. The Yuuzhan Vong is religious zealots who view mechanical technology as blasphemy."

Teshik interrupts, "The Yuuzhan Vong has a religious dislike of mechanical technology?"

Captain Frisk replies, "Yes Admiral"

Looking at the holographic display, show an average Yuuzhan Vong male, Teshik says, "Interesting, continue."

Captain Frisk continues, "Their technological innovations are genetically engineered and purely organic. Additionally, the Yuuzhan Vong deeply respected pain to the point of masochism, and continuously strives to improve their physical capabilities through organ grafting. Such grafting is a status symbol within Yuuzhan Vong society from what we have been able to gather from our observations."

Teshik interrupts again, "Another piece of information that is not on any files is that when the Emperor was questioning the captives from our first encounter with them. The Emperor discovered that the Yuuzhan Vong is unable to be sensed directly through the Force. However, some Force attacks are capable of being used upon them. This confounded the Emperor when he first began to question the Yuuzhan Vong prisoners because prior to their discovery all life forms where thought to have a Force energy signature."

This bit of news about the Yuuzhan Vong being unable to be sensed directly through the Force surprises Luke Skywalker, though it does explain why no Jedi has sensed the presence of this alien race.

Captain Frisk asks, "Very interesting piece of information Admiral. That means that the Jedi will be of little or no use against the Yuuzhan Vong. I will add this to the information we already have."

This comment makes Skywalker wince, but he says nothing.

Teshik says, "Yes it is interesting, however if a Jedi can see a Yuuzhan Vong, then that Jedi can still use the force against the Yuuzhan Vong, as the force can be used to 'grab' the space around where the Yuuzhan Vong is standing and crush or hurl a rock at the Yuuzhan Vong. The Emperor was able to use force lighting against the Yuuzhan Vong prisoners to inflict pain to question them and to kill one of them. So the Jedi may initially be 'fazed' by the Yuuzhan Vong, however based on past performance the Jedi will adapt to this new threat."

Skywalker is amazed at the amount of information that Teshik has on Jedi force abilities.

Teshik continues, "The Yuuzhan Vong biggest weakness is their religion, especially their views on mechanical technology."

Captain Frisk asks, "Admiral, I don't see how that is of use?"

Teshik who is making notes on his own data pad replies, "You will Captain, for now what are the Yuuzhan Vong currently doing?"

Captain Frisk responds, "The Yuuzhan Vong are slowly and carefully expanding, as they do not yet want to engage in combat against the Empire until their forces have been built up to sufficient strength to engage the Empire. I think that the Yuuzhan Vong will move against the Empire, as I think the Yuuzhan Vong will see the Empire as their biggest threat now that the New Republic has fallen."

Teshik looking at the current position of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet that is currently skirting the edge of Imperial controlled space, controlling around a dozen on the edge of the galaxy, replies, "I agree, from a Yuuzhan Vong point of view the Empire will appear to be there biggest threat, they will strike at us first."

Captain Frisk says, "In addition the Yuuzhan Vong seem to have been planting infiltrators within the Empire to gain as much information as possible. Once several of these infiltrators had been captured and questioned along with being examined, this allows us to track the Yuuzhan Vong infiltrators on a specific planet. The Yuuzhan Vong fleets as you have indicated admiral the Yuuzhan Vong forces are holding position in these twelve systems at the edge of our galaxy, they appear to be building up their strength in preparation for an attack."

Skywalker who now seems to have found his voice asks, "Can these Yuuzhan Vong negotiated with?"

Captain Frisk replies, "No, the Empires initial attempts at negotiation led to the Imperial negotiation team be murdered, after that the Emperor order that not further attempts at negotiation."

Admiral Antilles asks, "You mean that the Empire knew about this treat decades ago?"

Teshik replies, "Yes Admiral Antilles the Empire knew, why do you think that the Emperor built the first Death Star?"

Admiral Antilles responds, "To defeat the growing rebellion?"

Teshik replies, "That was its secondary role, it primary would have been to eliminate this alien race."

Leia asks, "So the Emperor did not view the rebellion as a threat?"

Teshik replies, "Not at the same level as the Yuuzhan Vong, the Emperor viewed the rebellion as a minor problem."

Leia asks, "What about the destruction of Alderaan, this was on the orders of the Emperor?"

Teshik replies, "The Emperor never ordered the destruction of Alderaan, Tarkin did it on his own, once Alderaan was destroyed the Emperor could not undo what had been done, so the Emperor authorised the destruction of Alderaan, to make it 'legal'".

Leia says, "So Tarkin was exceeding his authority when he destroyed Alderaan?"

Teshik replies, "Yes he was, but I do not see the need to dwell on this we need to move on, we have a bigger problem, the Yuuzhan Vong. I intend to launch a pre-emptive strike against the Yuuzhan Vong and either eliminate them or weaken them sufficiently that they will not be a threat to the Empire ever again."

Leia asks, "When do you intend to launch this attack?" though Leia has a funny feeling that she already knows that answer to the question she has just asked.

Teshik replies, "Preparations are almost complete, we should begin the attack with the next few days, from intelligence reports the Yuuzhan Vong are unaware of what we are planning."

Leia nods slightly and says, "If the decision has been made why bring us here?"

Teshik replies, "As a curtsy, nothing more. If I did not I would suspect that all of you would raise your voices in disapproval; of not being informed, even though I do not need to inform any of you of any Imperial military operations."

Around that table, there is an embarrassed silence amongst former New Republic's government and military members, as Grand Admiral Teshik has hit the nail on the head on what these former members of the New Republic's government and military would say if they had not been informed about the military operation, once it had been completed.

After letting the silence hang for a few moments Teshik says, "For the next hour or so, I will give you a general outline to the plan of attack, once this is done you will be allocated quarters on my flagship. If you wish to leave your quarters you must be escorted by a guard."

As no one replies, Teshik begins his briefing for the next hour he outlines his attack plans against the Yuuzhan Vong, once he has finished all the New Republic's government and military members are taken to their quarters.

All the former members of the New Republic's government and military know that Teshik will soon launch his attack, what they do not yet know is that the other three Sovereign class Star Dreadnoughts have already jumped into hyperspace towards their own jump off points.

Soon the Yuuzhan Vong will be in for the shock of their lives, as the Yuuzhan Vong are unaware that the Empire is about to attack them.

**Worldship of Warmaster Tsavong Lah**

Warmaster Tsavong Lah was viewing the recent report that most of the Yuuzhan Vong infiltrators within the Empire had been eliminated. The numbers of Yuuzhan Vong infiltrators are quite small that have been deployed to other governments and powers, compared to the numbers deployed against the Empire. However, the elimination of the Yuuzhan Vong infiltrators in any numbers has been flagged for Warmaster Tsavong Lah attention.

Warmaster Lah asks, "How have these Imperials managed to discover our infiltrators with their blasphemous technology?"

Yuuzhan Vong executor Nom Anor replies, "Warmaster Lah, I do not think that they have discovered our infiltrators by using their blasphemous technology."

Warmaster Lah asks, "Then how?"

Nom Anor replies, "Warmaster, these Imperials have been hunting for former New Republic spies within their midst, I think during these sweeps they simply 'bumped into our infiltrators' so to speak and eliminated them. This would then lead these Imperials to seek out more of our infiltrators, as they assume that they are from the former New Republic. These former New Republic spies are part of the New Rebel Alliance that was greatly reduced when the bulk of the former New Republic government and military surrendered just over a year ago."

Warmaster Lah asks, "So it is just pure coincidence then due to these Imperials paranoia, so how soon will these Imperials will make public what they have discovered."

Nom Anor replies, "Possibly not Warmaster, so far the Imperials have not gone public with this information, I suspect that they do not want to reveal that they have found these former New Republic spies."

Warmaster Lah says, "These Imperials do seem much of a threat as they once did."

Nom Anor replies, "You are correct Warmaster Lah, they do control their former holdings once again, but their military forces are still building up, it will be some time before they are at full strength. The Empire seems to be shifting its forces around a lot at the moment this must be to compensate for the lack of numbers to cover all areas at once." Pausing for a moment, then nervously Nom Anor says, "If I may make a bold suggestion Warmaster?"

Warmaster Lah looks at Nom Anor and says, "You may make your suggestion Nom Anor."

Nom Anor bows deeply and says, "Thank you Warmaster. I would suggest that we ignore these Rebels, along with the other minor powers, until the Empire has been defeated."

Warmaster Lah looks at Nom Anor and laughs, causing Nom Anor to take a few steps back from Warmaster Lah, who then replies, "I have already come to that conclusion Nom Anor. We will strike here at the edge of Imperial space, you have already started to stir up rebellion between Rhommamool and its neighbour Osarian to distract the New Republic from it's our important attacks that will follow."

Nom Anor replies, "Yes my agents have done this, I am posing as the leader of the Red Knights of Life. This has proved to be a relatively easy task as the populations of Rhommamool and its neighbour Osarian already distrusts each other."

Warmaster Lah says, "Good, we are almost ready to be cleansing this galaxy of their blasphemous technology."

Nom Anor replies, "Yes Warmaster. What of these Rebels, shall I dispatch more agents to replace those that have been lost?"

Warmaster Lah thinks for a few moments then says, "No need, these Rebels are weak, focus your efforts on the Empire, we will deal with these Rebels after the Empire has been eliminated."

Nom Anor bows deeply and says, "As you command Warmaster Lah."

Warmaster Lah replies, "Good."

Warmaster Lah is certain that their enemy's blasphemous technology will prove to be inferior to their own pure "technology".

What Warmaster Lah does not know about is that there are Imperial forces at four secret locations these four locations are within striking distance from the twelve systems currently controlled by the Yuuzhan Vong.

Warmaster Lah does not know that the Empire will strike first, within a very few weeks.

Warmaster Lah will be in for the shock of his life...

To be continued.


	18. Chapter 18

**18. Imperial Build-up**

"_Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen._" – Winston Churchill

At each of the four locations, the Imperial fleet's forces continues to arrive, at each of the four -locations there is a single Sovereign class Star Dreadnought as each fleets command ship.

The Sovereign commanded by Grand Admiral Teshik

The Monarch commanded by Grand Admiral Thrawn

The Emperor commanded by Fleet Admiral Feyet Kiez

The King commanded by Fleet Admiral Gilad Pellaeon

The assembling of these fleets has been done in such a way as not to draw attention to the fact that the Empire is building up for an attack, though this way is more time consuming it is much safer and will not reveal the Imperial build up.

The Yuuzhan Vong are unaware of the Imperial build up, the remaining Yuuzhan Vong infiltrators only see a shifting of Imperial forces to different points across the Empire, not the build up, nothing more.

On the bridge of the Sovereign, the former Imperial Inquisitor Adalric Cessius Brandl, could see his vision of the future coming true, as Lord Brandl looks at Grand Admiral in his command chair. Lord Brandl remembers his visions, 'The one part of his vision that scared him more than anything is the part where he is standing next to the command chair on the bridge of a star destroyer, every time he looks down at the man in the chair. He sees the man in the chair wearing the uniform of an Imperial Grand Admiral.'

The future that Lord Brandl saw is now coming true.

**Later ****Lord Brandl Quarters**

Lord Brandl was mediating in his quarters, as he was mediating he reached out with the Dark Side of the force, he could sense the ships around the Sovereign, along with the millions of troops onboard those ships. Lord Brandl could sense that the troops were afraid but they were also confident of victory with two Grand Admirals leading them, the troops are focused on the coming task ahead of them.

Then Lord Brandl suddenly sense another force user outside his quarters, Luke Skywalker, using the forces Lord Brandl opens the door and says, "Come in Skywalker"

Skywalker enters and the doors close silently behind him, Skywalker says, "I sensed the Dark Side of the force, is there a problem?"

Lord Brandl replies, "I have been having visions about the future"

Skywalker nods as he sits facing Lord Brandl.

Lord Brandl continues, "I have been having these visions since the Emperors final death. All of what I have seen has come true, without exception."

Skywalker is both suspicious and intrigued, he asks, "May I ask what visions you have had lately?"

Lord Brandl takes a deep breath and replies, "I can do better than that" then takes of one of his leather gloves and then says, "Take my hand and you too can see what I see."

For a few moments Skywalker hesitates, then he takes Lord Brandl hand, suddenly Skywalker sees the bridge of a star destroyer, in the command chair is Grand Admiral Teshik, the vision shifts, with Grand Admiral Teshik hand outstretched commanding all Imperial forces.

Then the visions shifts again, this time it is it is a battle against a forces that appear to be blind to the force (Yuuzhan Vong), the vision shows Grand Admiral Teshik and Grand Admiral Thrawn, then suddenly shows a third Grand Admiral, though the vision does not show this third Grand Admirals face.

This vision is shocking to Skywalker, he thinks to himself another Grand Admiral alive.

Then the visions shifts again, this time showing Skywalker serving Grand Admiral Teshik and the Empire as a form of police, just as the Jedi were in the Old Republic, the vision also shows that the Jedi and the Sith will be working side by side. This vision of the Jedi and the Sith will be working side by side is extremely strong in Skywalker's mind, as if his own force powers are amplifying this vision.

Images continue to come into Skywalker's mind, each of these visions reinforces that the galaxy will be much better off with Grand Admiral Teshik leading the galaxy rather than the New Republic leading the galaxy.

The visions shifts again, showing the Empire sometime in the future, run by Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik, with Grand Admiral Thrawn at Teshik left and Lord Brandl at his right. The vision also shows thousands upon thousands of worlds under the leadership of Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik, leading the Empire to a bright future.

Then the link is broken by Lord Brandl who takes a deep breath and says, "You have seen what I have seen Skywalker."

Skywalker replies, "You created these visions?"

Lord Brandl says, "No, you merely saw what I see, no more, search your feelings you known it to be true."

Skywalker in heart he knows that Lord Brandl is speaking the truth, then Skywalker notices for the first time, that Jaalib Brandl has been watching them, his face set in a grim expression.

Skywalker asks, "How long have you been here?"

Jaalib Brandl replies, "A while" nodding towards the time on the wall.

Skywalker looking at the time sees that over ten hours have passed since he came inside Lord Brandl quarters.

Lord Brandl says, "Jaalib, take Skywalker to see Teshik, I need to rest now."

In a serious tone Jaalib Brandl replies, "Yes father, come on Skywalker."

As they walk towards Teshik quarters, the Imperial crewmembers move out of the way of Jaalib Brandl, some out of fear some out of respect.

**Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik, Private Quarters**

Once inside Teshik, private quarters, Skywalker noted that were Teshik sat there are a number of Ysalamir around Teshik private quarters, this did not supprise Skywalker, as the use of these creatures has been known to him for many years and a Grand Admiral using them would be a given.

Though onboard, the Sovereign the Ysalamir seem to have been placed in pockets so that Lord Brandl can still use the force, though once Skywalker and Jaalib Brandl both of them were now cut off from the force, though Skywalker seemed to be more affected than Jaalib Brandl.

Teshik looked up from behind his desk and says, "Welcome Skywalker, I would assume that Lord Brandl has shown you his visions of the future?" that was more of a statement than a question.

Skywalker sits down and replies, "Yes he has."

Teshik asks, "What do you think, would you like to lead the Jedi order in this new Empire, after all the New Republic was a nice idea, but it just did not work."

Skywalker says, "You are going to let me re build the Jedi order because of a vision from Lord Brandl?"

Teshik replies, "Partially yes, the other reason is that the Emperor foresaw an eternal civil war without end unless the Jedi were eliminated completely, they Jedi were not eliminated completely therefore we ended up with an eternal civil war, just as the Emperor foresaw. But I propose a different way, with the Jedi become a 'police force' of the Empire along with the Sith, you probably think this will not work, but in the past the Sith and the Jedi have worked together."

Skywalker says, "No one has ever tried this sort of thing?"

Teshik replies, "No but it could work, Lord Brandl has agreed along with Jaalib Brandl and a few other Sith and Dark Side adepts that remain."

Skywalker says, "There are more Sith?"

Teshik smiles and replies, "Oh, yes, you see for the Jedi to exist you need the Sith and for the Sith to exist they need the Jedi, you cannot have one without the other."

Skywalker suddenly realized that Teshik is right and says, "Very well Grand Admiral I agree, but I do not think this will work very smoothly."

Teshik continues to smile and replies, "Oh, it won't, well initially, but given time it will, do not worry Skywalker, I have anticipated the problems that will crop up, I already have many strategies to deal with both rouge Jedi and Sith."

Skywalker shakes his head and thinks to himself, Teshik already knew his answer before he did never underestimate a Grand Admiral.

Skywalker leaves Grand Admiral Teshik's quarters to 'observe' the coming battle.

As they walk down the corridor Jaalib Brandl in a cheery tone asks, "Do you want to see a real super weapon?"

Skywalker is caught by the question and replies, "Sure"

Jaalib Brandl says, "Ok, follow me" and enters the nearest turbolift with a curious Skywalker in tow.

**VIP Guest Quarters, Sovereign**

Skywalker is surprised that they have come to the VIP guest quarters area, Skywalker asks, "I thought we would be going to the armory?"

Jaalib Brandl grins at Skywalker and says, "Nope, this is a far more potent weapon than any superlaser or Death Star."

Skywalker has a sudden knot in his stomach as if he already knows that answer but he cannot see clearly, even though he is no longer under the influence of the Ysalamir.

As the two of them approach a guarded guest quarter, the two armoured doors silently slip apart, revealing an entrance area, as they approach the inner door this door also opens silently, to reveal the guest quarters living area.

In the middle of the room is a large active holo display, with his back to the entrance in a man in a Grand Admirals uniform, Skywalker gasps a third Grand Admiral just as Lord Brandl vision has shown him.

As they come to a stop Jaalib Brandl polity clears his throat and the Grand Admiral turns around, it is Octavian Grant.

Octavian Grant with a smile on his face says, "Hello, Jaalib Brandl and hello Luke Skywalker."

The only thing that Skywalker can say in reply, "I thought that you have been killed?"

Octavian Grant still with a smile on his face says, "No, the Imperial team, that was sent was under orders to grab me and bring me back to Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik and to make it look like I was killed, very clever really."

Skywalker says, "But you joined the New Republic?"

Octavian Grant replies, "Yes and the New Republic turned on me, I could see that would happen, so on one of my attacks, I used tactics that only another Grand Admiral could recognize as mine. This would lead Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik to my location and here I am back within the Empire again."

Skywalker asks, "But Teshik could have been out to kill you?"

Octavian Grant laughs and replies, "No, Teshik is not that kind of Grand Admiral" then his tone changes, "Even Thrawn is not like that, any of the other Grand Admirals would have had me killed" his tone changes again, "but not Teshik"

A still stunned Skywalker manages to ask, "What are you doing here?"

Octavian Grant in a serious tone replies, "Helping to defeat this alien invasion of our galaxy, I understand that you will be joining us?"

Skywalker says, "Yes, I assume that you have talked to Teshik and got that information from him?"

Octavian Grant replies, "Not directly, we had a discussion several weeks ago, all three of us agreed that you would join us and that the Jedi and the Sith would unite, so there was no reason for Teshik to inform me of your decision. Everything is going according to plan."

Skywalker asks, "You cannot predict what everyone is going to do."

Octavian Grant replies, "True, but all we needed to do is predict what you were going to do Skywalker and of course Jaalib Brandl. Once Jaalib Brandl knew that there were three Grand Admirals we knew that he could not resist showing off when you came onboard."

Jaalib Brandl blushes slightly at being found out but says nothing.

Octavian Grant says, "Now if you will excuse me I have some battle strategies to iron out."

As they both exit Octavian Grant, Jaalib Brandl heads off on his own, leaving Skywalker to his own devices.

Skywalker has never been left alone onboard an Imperial warship, he deicide to head to the main bridge, because quite frankly he has nothing better to do!

As Skywalker exits the turbolift, he thought that he might be stopped. But as Skywalker walks on to the bridge, no one stops him Skywalker can feel the crew pits eyes in his back as he passes them it is mostly fear the crew of the Sovereign only know Sith, not the Jedi and they have learned to fear a Sith.

They do not know that the Sith and the Jedi do things is very different ways.

As Skywalker looks out of the main bridge windows of the Sovereign, he can see the growing number of imperial warships of all classes assembling for the upcoming attack, with three Grand Admirals leading this attack, Skywalker knew that the Yuuzhan Vong would be surprised and probably annihilated.

Skywalker did not like the idea of wiping out the Yuuzhan Vong, but he really did not have much choice, also this is only one fleet and Skywalker knew that stopping one fleet would not stop that attack he would just have to live with it.

What Skywalker did not realize is that he was behaving just as his father Lord Vader did, stalking the bridge of the command ship, just before a battle.

The Yuuzhan Vong is about to get the biggest surprise of their existence ever it will be the last surprise that they get...

To be continued.


End file.
